Prices good at Stratton sale

Ken Johnston
Editor

Things were moooving along as if the Mad Cow scare never happened at the first Stratton Cattle Sale of the season last Saturday.
The annual yearling sale attracted 800 head of cattle which is more than last year’s 621 head.
Stratton Sales Barn Manager Russell Richards said that despite so many people being pessimistic about the sale, “We had a good sale!”
Prices were down slightly from last year, but not that far off the mark. Good steers sold for $1.14-$1.17 per pound. 800+ pound heifers sold for an avg. of about $1.07-$1.11 per pound and 800+ steers sold on average of about $1.09-$1.13 per pound.
Last year good quality yearlings fetched about $1.25 per pound on the high end of things and good 800+ pound animals averaged $1.18-$1.21 per pound.
Richards said that he visited many farmers to get them to sell cattle at the sale and many were afraid they would not get very much for their animals. “After seeing the prices that were being paid many said they wish they had brought their animals to the sale,” said Richards.
All but two of the animals sold were sold to out of town buyers. The six major buyers were split three from the west and three from the east. “They are going to areas that have kill plants,” explained Richards. He said that two of the big buyers told him the biggest thing they like about Stratton sales is, “That all the cattle are farm fresh. There are no scalper animals here.” A scalper is an animal that is bought at one sales barn one day and and then sold at another a couple of days later. Richards said the more sales barns an animal is exposed to the more apt they are to develop sickness. “For that reason these buyers are willing to pay 3 or 4 more cents per pound for our animals.”
In addition to the yearlings 60 head of calves were sold at $1.17 per pound. That is almost double the number of calves sold at the sale last year.
Richards said Auctioneer Steward McSherry told him that the Stratton Sale was the largest one in Canada last week.
Richards also said he would like to see the merchants bring their prices of top beef cuts down by two thirds, which is what the farmers have had to do to sell their meat across Canada. “Then the average person would be able to take steaks home with them.”
He also feels that the processing plants are going to make millions of dollars on the backs of Canadian farmers. With so few processing plants in Canada, farmers are at the mercy of those in existence. Richards explained that the U.S. talked Canada into selling them the beef to be processed in the U.S. now with the Mad Cow scare Canada does not have enough capacity to process all of its beef.
Out delivering cheques Monday from Saturday’s sale, Richards said that “People are pleased. It is not as good as last year, but it is not a tragedy either.”
The next sale at the Stratton Sales Barn is the Calf Sale on October 4, 2003. “We will sell anything that comes. Any kind of livestock,” concluded Richards.