When cattle arrive at VJV Foothills Livestock Auction in Stavely, Alta., they are greeted with feed, water and comfortable bedding.
The extra care may cost more, but the philosophy at this auction yard is that it pays in the end with reduced stress and less weight loss caused by transport, weaning and other changes cattle experience after leaving home.
“It is impossible for it not to have any effect on them at all, but we try and minimize the effect it has on them by the things we are able to do,” said manager Rob Bergevin.
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The company sees it as an extra service for clients.
“There really are no savings in it. It costs more money for us to do those sorts of things,” he said.
Conscientious care from the start should help minimize sickness as cattle travel from the ranch to the auction to the feedlot.
Once a pen has been sorted for sex and size, cattle may be commingled with others from a dozen different places so the handlers hope their efforts keep them healthy.
Fall is the busiest time of year for cattle auctions as calves come off their mothers and head for the feedlots or another farm.
They arrive at the auction market by truck from consignors the day before the sale. Staff checks the consignor’s manifests to make sure the numbers of cattle match the paperwork.
After feed and water, steers and heifers are separated and placed in pens. The next sorting is for size to present buyers with consistent groups.
Brand inspectors cross-reference brands with the consigners’ manifests and a Canadian Cattle Identification Agency inspector checks for the required eartags.
Consignors provide information such as age verification and immunization records, which are announced during the sale.
At this yard, the cattle are sold in the order they were received the day before. They do not receive food or water for eight to 12 hours before the sale because they are weighed before entering the ring. Buyers pay by the pound and do not want the animals full. Time in the ring averages about one minute and the animals are then fed and watered.
The Stavely operation handles small numbers from local farmers as well as larger loads from the big ranches in a trading area from High River to Fort Macleod in southern Alberta. They have also accepted cattle from across the prairies.
Most animals end up in feedlots in the Picture Butte area but this year a good number were shipped to Ontario after being sold through satellite sales.
This yard is connected to the Canadian Livestock Satellite Auction system where eight different companies participate every two weeks. The cattle are photographed on the farm and do not leave until they are delivered to the buyer. This modern marketing system saves freight and minimizes transportation stress.
The auction’s goal is to get the best possible price for consignors and Bergevin said auction staff try to advise people on how to make their calves more marketable.
Preconditioning, where the calves stay on the farm after weaning and receive immunization boosters, should earn a premium for producers.
Ranchers are also reminded they will get a better price if animals are properly dehorned, castrated and presented in uniformly sized groups.
At the auction level, people often do not think about themselves as producing food but more are aware of the extra care needed to keep animals healthy and earn a better profit.
“I think they feel underappreciated at times. You have to work pretty hard to keep that calf alive and bring him to where he is and go to the next chain,” said Bergevin.
