ASSINIBOIA, Sask. – Organizers couldn’t call it a rousing success, but the inaugural Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association Elite Sale was said to be a good first step.
The average price of about 300 animals offered for sale by the association members March 2 was 67 cents a pound.
Stock growers president Carl Block called that price “as good as you’d get anywhere.”
The stock growers decided to hold the sale to replace revenue they used to receive from the commercial cattle sale at Regina’s Canadian Western Agribition. The stock growers initiated the commercial sale and used to get half of the commissions from it.
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“I guess they’re feeling the financial crunch too,” Block said of Agribition organizers. “They began phasing us out.”
The 1995 Agribition was the last time the stock growers association received money from the commercial sale. Block estimated it brought in $6,000 to $7,000 annually.
“We weren’t looking to replace it the first time,” he said of the Elite Sale. “It’s something to build on.”
Assiniboia Livestock auctioneer Roy Rutledge said there may not have been many cattle for sale, but the quality of those offered was good.
“Three different drafts (about 30 head) went back out for breeding,” Rutledge said. “The rest were bought by order buyers for feedlots.”
Both men blamed market conditions for the low number of entries and the average prices.
“People are reluctant to bite the bullet, so to speak,” Block said. “Nobody is making long-term marketing plans. Until they sell, they haven’t participated in the down part of the cycle.”
The highest price, for five red Angus heifers consigned by Brian Weedon of Cabri, Sask., was 70.25 cents per lb.
A 585-lb. steer donated by Neil and Marilyn Jahnke of Gouldtown, Sask., brought 90 cents, with the money going to the stock growers. The association and Assiniboia Livestock Auction split the sale charges.
“There’s no money in it for us, but we deal with most of these people on a year-round basis,” said Rutledge. “We’re big supporters of the stock growers.
“It’s going to take two to three years to really get it going. The downside for us is it will be somewhere else.”
Block said no decision has been made whether the sale site will be moved each year to accommodate the association’s 1,000 members.
