REGINA – As Dave Smith moved his championship pen of backgrounder steers back to the display barn, he had time to think about how good Agribition had been to him this year.
For the second year in a row, the Lockwood, Sask., beef producer won the champion pen of backgrounder steers and sold the five solid red animals for $1.11 a pound to JGL Livestock at Moose Jaw.
“It’s a good price for the market today,” said the owner of Hill 22 Ranching.
He has been ranching in central Saskatchewan for 43 years and admits the last three years have been tough with severe drought followed by BSE trade embargos.
Read Also
Dennis Laycraft to be inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame
Dennis Laycraft, a champion for the beef industry, will be inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame this fall.
“I’m glad I’m established. I wouldn’t want to be starting out now.”
Smith typically custom feeds his steers derived from a three-way cross of Red Angus, Simmental and Charolais.
He likes Red Angus mothers as a strong maternal breed and believes the combination gives him uniformity and calves that pay their way.
Overall, the Nov. 22-27 Canadian Western Agribition commercial sale numbers and averages were down slightly from 2003, when 934 lots sold for $874,103. This year, 905 head sold for a total of $717,381.
There were 25 backgrounders offered with an average weight of 577 lb. and average bid of $1.09 per lb.
There were 305 feeder steers at 761 lb. each on average. They fetched 99 cents a lb. Feeder heifers averaging 677 lb. sold for 90 cents per lb. on 140 head.
Open replacement heifers at 688 lb. averaged $636 for 140 head. Bred heifers averaged $1,007 for 295 head averaging 1,152 lb.
On the purebred side, Agribition sales continued strong, but sales managers from various breeds said the better cattle tend to fetch higher prices across the board this fall.
Rob Holowaychuk of Red Deer managed the Angus sale and said this fall has been good but “we didn’t have the highs we usually do.”
People are always looking for genetic upgrades even if border closures have shaken some aspects of the market and left people cash poor.
“We are selling genetics. This has nothing to do with killing cattle. There is a decent opportunity around here still and thank God there is,” he said.
Brian Bouchard of Crossfield, Alta., manages sales for mostly Angus, Gelbvieh and Simmental. He worries before every event, even though he believes the market doldrums are fading away.
“With the plainer cattle we are seeing the reality of a shortage of cash. Some have been disappointed but we see optimism out there,” he said.
People are becoming more optimistic as they adjust to a new market reality.
“People realize we have bottomed out,” he said.
Bouchard acknowledged the border is likely to remain closed to breeding stock for some time, but Canadian interest is strong and there is a good market for semen and embryos.
Auctioneer Dan Skeels, who sold the Gelbvieh grouping, said people are still looking for cattle but may be fussier than in the past.
“People who have money are investing,” he said.
Skeels is also head auctioneer of Vold, Jones and Vold at Ponoka, Alta., selling all classes of commercial animals each week.
“The commercial are doing better than anybody anticipated,” he said.
However, he is concerned about the industry’s future and argues the federal government needs to step in and limit the number of cattle that packers may own in any given week.
“The federal government needs to realize if we don’t get our act together, we won’t have an industry to worry about,” said Skeels.
Nevertheless, Agribition sales offered some upbeat results with buyers from across Canada, the United States and some offshore interest.
The Angus Masterpiece sale had 90 lots to average $3,891 with a sale gross of $350,250. The Charolais sale had 19.5 lots that averaged $5,285 with a gross sale total of $105,650.
The Gelbvieh sale had 26 lots averaging $3,304 with a gross sale total of $85,900.
The Limousin sale offered 22 lots to average $4,386 with a gross sale total of $95,000.
The Shorthorn Elite sale had 27 lots averaging $2,919 with a gross sale total of $78,800.
Simmental sold 35 lots that averaged $5,091 with a gross sale of $178,200.
