Cattle sale ropes in decent prices

Ken Johnston
Editor

The annual yearling sale in Stratton drew fairly good numbers Saturday, despite the “bumpy” market.
RR Cattlemen President Tom Morrish said that cattle go through cycles and since last fall the market has been on a downward trend. That coupled with the drought forcing so many producers in the west to dump hoards of cattle on the market, prices have been fairly flat in the region.
However on Saturday the good quality yearlings brought in about $1.25 lb and the 780 lb. group’s best prices were between $1.18-$1.21/lb.
Common cattle had a tougher time fetching around the $1.10/lb. range. Market manager Russell Richards said that these prices were fairly good when compared to Winnipeg prices. “One producer took some into Winnipeg last week and only got about 72¢/lb. He brought the other half here and was very happy with Stratton.”
Both Morrish and Richards said that buyers were happy with the cattle available and no one filed complaints about the sale. About the same as last year, 621 head were sold, of which 35 were calves. They were sold for about $1.28-$1.29/lb.
The next sale at the Stratton Cattle Sales Yard is October 5th. It is a calf sale.