Assiniboia Livestock Auction, a division of Nilsson Brothers chain of
auction markets, has bought the Weyburn Livestock Exchange.
Ray Paslawski, owner of the Weyburn auction market that he opened in
1961, said Nilsson Brothers wasn’t his first choice among potential
buyers, but the time was right to sell.
“I was hoping some farmers would come forward and buy it,” he said.
It’s unlikely the Weyburn market will reopen for sales until after the
busy fall calf run, said Roy Rutledge, manager at Assiniboia who will
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operate the Weyburn market. The Assiniboia auction runs seven days a
week from Oct. 8 to Dec. 12 to squeeze through the cattle going to
market.
“The fall runs are murder.”
After the fall run slows down, he will take a closer look at how the
nearby auction can be used. Rutledge said because many of the panels
and sorting corrals were removed before the sale, the corral system
will have to be rebuilt before sales can be held again.
He plans to use Weyburn as an assembly yard for special cow, calf and
sheep sales, but weekly sales will no longer be held.
“We’re going to try and run it the best we can.”
Paslawski said it was a sad day when the last sale was held Sept. 28.
Weyburn was one of the last of the family auction markets, where
everything from horse to cows to rabbits was sold and families made
special trips to the weekly sales.
“This was their day to come down to visit with their neighbours and
have a coffee and a piece of pie in the cafeteria.”
Paslawski said he enjoyed meeting the people who came to the auction.
“I knew everybody from politicians to businessmen to horse thieves and
cattle rustlers.”
Paslawski will continue to run a feed business from the location.
