Cattle prices have slipped a little but remain strong, according to Kirk Kiesman of Ashern Auction Mart. He said the number and quality of cattle at auction have both fallen in the last few weeks.
“The market was still pretty good overall. The run is definitely getting smaller as most of the cattle in Manitoba are sold already,” he said.
“The good packages sold well. The plainer cattle and singles would have been discounted. Cows and bulls have continued to sell phenomenally.”
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While there weren’t any major price changes between the May 3 and 10 sales at Ashern, the number of head sold was down slightly, especially in the slaughter market. On May 3, Ashern auctioned 297 slaughter cattle along with 613 feeders. For May 10, that dropped to 163 slaughter cattle and 596 feeders.
Pricewise, lows and highs for the various feeder weight classes changed by only a few dollars. For example, 600- to 700-lb. feeder steers sold for $287.50-$328 per hundredweight on May 3. Those cattle on May 10 fetched $303-$330/cwt.
One of the larger changes came with the 700- to 800-lb. feeder heifers, garnering $230-$253/cwt. on May 10, as opposed to May 3’s prices of $200-$272.
Slaughter cattle also saw little change in price. D3-D5 cows went for $120-$128/cwt. on May 10, compared to $115-$127 the week before. Heiferettes saw the most change, going from May 3’s $126-$233/cwt. to $140-$223.50 on May 10.
“The [cattle] futures have slumped a little bit in the last week to 10 days, but that lack of supply keeps the prices up,” Kiesman said.
Cattle in the first cut have been sold, he said, but some producers are hanging onto their animals, given the pricing.
“We’ve been pretty fortunate the last two or three sales that some guys have held on, so we’ve had some really good-quality cattle coming in for each sale,” he said, noting producers are now cleaning out their pens.
Kiesman speculated that some replacement-quality heifers have been auctioned rather than kept because prices are good.
Ashern will continue its weekly auctions for the balance of May, he said. It will then close for the first week of June and have its final sale before the summer break on June 14.
Among other auctions, Heartland Livestock Services’ Virden facility was closed for May 10, but will have a sale May 17. Brandon had its sale May 9 and will be closed May 16, reopening May 23.
The Ste. Rose Auction Mart will be closed May 18 and its next sale is May 25. The Killarney Auction Mart skipped May 8 and will have its next sale May 15.
