LLOYDMINSTER – Calf prices have held up well this fall in Saskatchewan and Alberta auctions.
Markets report the highest volumes of cattle since the fall of 2002 despite a tight supply of trucks and an ongoing strike at the Lakeside meat packing plant in Brooks, Alta.
Good quality 600-700 pound steer calves through September and October brought prices in a range of $120 to $135 per hundredweight with heifers hanging back about 15 cents per lb., said Blair Vold of Vold Jones and Vold in Ponoka, Alta.
Stewart Stone, Heartland Livestock’s chief operating officer, said the market for heavy feeder calves has proved strong this fall at that company’s nine locations in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
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“There are lots of good reasons for the price to be vulnerable,” said Stone. “Shortage of trucks, strong supplies, new rules on American exports, an 85 cent (Canadian dollar relative to United States currency). Despite all that stuff, we are still seeing what many cow-calf producers call a decent buck from their calves.”
Vold said his market handled 8,000 more animals in September than it did in the same month one year ago and October has shaped up the same way. Weather played a role.
September in southern Saskatchewan and western Manitoba was spent on harvest, limiting calf deliveries to the sale yards.
In northern Saskatchewan and central and northern Alberta, mixed cattle and grain operations have faced repeated mid-harvest rain and later crops. This allowed producers time to sort and sell more of their 2005 calves that month.
Stone said many mixed operations where harvest was delayed may be facing cash flow issues, which could influence fall calf deliveries.
“Even if you have poor grain and lots of hay for cheap feed, producers might be thinking they also need cash and instead of feeding calves for the winter, they are moving them into the strong market,” he said.
Gene Parks of Pipestone Livestock in Pipestone, Man., and Moosomin, Sask., said deliveries have been heavier than in previous years and buyers are optimistic about the margins of cattle feeding this year.
“BSE left us a bit quiet but things are back to business this year,” he said.
Stone said buyers have faced the challenge of not being able to attend many sales. Many auctions are holding calf sales four or five days each week, instead of the average two.
“Buyers are finding themselves stuck in a single chair all week rather than getting to a few events. But it doesn’t seem to have hurt prices,” said Stone.
All say additional support payments to Alberta feedlots by the provincial government are showing up in the purchases of calves this fall. Alberta lots are bidding more aggressively, looking to fill pens with shorter-keep animals.
A large crop of low-priced feed grain in Alberta and northern Saskatchewan has also built optimism in the feeder markets, said auctioneers.
Vold said many producers in central Alberta, where harvest is still going on, are choosing to keep lighter calves on the farm to feed over the winter.
“Where there is feed and fence, we’ll see some feeding this winter,” he said.
Russ Copeland manages the Heartland Livestock market in Lloydminster, Sask., and said producers in his region have begun hauling calves.
“When we are getting $114 (per cwt.) for 700 lb. heifers, it can’t be all bad for the farmer,” he said during an auction last week.
