Kirk Kiesman of the Ashern Auction Mart hopes cattle prices will not slide when numbers at auction increase as Manitoba’s fall calf run gets underway.
“There’s a shortage of cattle in North America with the number at record lows,” said Kiesman. “I’m hoping prices remain strong, definitely on the feeder cattle and calves. The cows, typically you start seeing a slump after the September long weekend.
“Most cow-calf guys and feedlot guys are going to see the most money they have ever seen,” he added.
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Ashern hosted its most recent auction on Sept. 13, its first since Aug. 23, with almost 800 cattle for sale.
Kiesman said prices for slaughter cattle softened slightly compared to August. For example, on Sept. 13 mature bulls fetched $90 to $164 per hundredweight compared to the $149 to $189 on Aug. 23. Also, D1 to D2 cows went from $140 to $155/cwt. at the last August sale to $120 to $135 for the first September auction. D3 to D5s slipped to $110 to $120, compared to $120 to $140/cwt. in August.
“We are starting to see more cattle get pulled off of pastures and get dumped on the slaughter side,” he said.
Manitoba’s Interlake region is running a little bit behind the rest of the province. Kiesman said producers often put their cattle on pasture somewhat later and keep them out longer in hopes of putting more weight on them.
As for the lead up to the fall run, he said there’s been a good number of yearlings coming to sale and a larger influx will likely begin within two weeks.
Ashern jumped from only 34 feeder steers and heifers at its Aug. 23 sale to 623 last week. In August, the smaller sample of cattle saw 600-to-700-pound feeder steers get $205 to $329/cwt. Prices for the same weight class climbed to $300 to $360 last week. Feeder heifers of the same class shifted slightly to $290 to $335, compared to $300 to $317/cwt. in August.
Kiesman said Ashern has scheduled its next sale Sept. 27 and then will switch back to a weekly auction. The rest of Manitoba’s eight cattle auctions will be open during the week of Sept. 15 to 21.
Also of note, Heartland Livestock Services has moved the day for its Brandon auction from Tuesdays to Fridays, while keeping Virden on Wednesdays.
“We’re looking after both places, so we had to move the sale to accommodate our staff,” said manager Brennin Jack, noting Fridays will see more buyers attend the Brandon auction.
