NISKU, Alta. – Dairy farmers Dirk Bergman and his father, Antoon, gave up their afternoon nap to take in the giant three-day Ritchie Brothers equipment auction.
For the family, the auction, which began April 27, provided an outing for their Dutch relatives, a way to keep up to date on equipment prices and maybe a place to pick up a grain auger.
“It was a good excuse to take the day off,” said Dirk of Ponoka.
The recent immigrants from The Netherlands are still trying to get a handle on Canadian agriculture. They checked out pay loaders for a possible future buy, but mostly they’re waiting for the snow to disappear and the fields to dry.
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“We’ve only been here six years. We don’t know what’s normal,” said Antoon.
Jerry Kirilenko and Lenard Domashovitz of Cando, Sask., drove to the sale in hopes of finding an inexpensive loader to dig rocks and clear bush from their fields.
“The prices were a little higher than we thought,” said Kirilenko, who passed on the loader purchase. “There’s nothing here our wives would let us bring home,” he added while walking through the area displaying agricultural equipment.
For the pair, it’s also a day off the farm before seeding begins. Wet weather has delayed seeding in western Saskatchewan, but they had hoped to be in fields by the beginning of May.
Frank Nashim, farmer and trucking company owner, plans his holidays around Ritchie Brothers auctions, where he buys second-hand farm machinery for his Lac La Biche, Alta., farm.
“I never miss a sale.”
Edwin Wieler of Fort Vermilion, Alta., stopped at the sale looking for a load to haul back to northern Alberta. He met up with Jay Krahn of High Level, Alta., and together they checked out the equipment.
Krahn bought a pull scraper to drain the low spots of his field when they are dry enough to begin seeding.
“The last few days have really changed things around for us. The moisture is really going in the ground to beat the band,” said Krahn, who added most farmers in northern Alberta are generally optimistic about the upcoming farm year.
It’s that same sense of optimism across the Prairies.
Scott Campbell of Fraser Auction Service of Brandon said farm auctions have been extremely strong this spring.
“There have been good crowds and the pricing is really strong,” said Campbell on his way back to Brandon after organizing an upcoming sale in Saskatchewan.
“Good equipment will always bring top dollar.”
Grant Hodgins of Hodgins Auctioneers, in Melfort, Sask., said he too senses a strong sense of optimism in the agricultural community this spring.
“Auctions sales are going well,” he said.
“The bidding is brisk, the crowds are large, the telephone calls are many,” he said referring to calls asking for more details on equipment.
Hodgins said this spring’s sales remind him of the heady days of the 1970s when crop prices were strong and farmers could see a good future in agriculture.
“Today smells like the mid-’70s. It is reminiscent of the mid-’70s.”
