Keosauqua Sales Co. Inc

 
May 2023  05/11/23 3:05:00 PM



5-23-2023
        Boy, when the rain stops around here, it really gets dry fast!  We have had an unusually good start to the growing season but it sure needs to rain to keep it going.  The forecast looks warm and very dry for the next ten days, but you never know maybe we will get lucky and catch a stray shower, the good Lord willing!
        Saturday had a light run of hogs but a noticeable improved market.   Sows are back up to $34.  Fat hogs even made it up to $70 this week.  Pigs were mostly 70 to 80 cents a pound and big boars were $15 to 20. 
        The sheep and goat run was over 800 head.  The market held steady on most weights.  Light lambs were $1.75 to 2.00 with the top 80 to 100 pound lambs mostly $1.50 to 1.80.  Ewes brought $50 to 80 and a few ewes with lambs at side brought $62.50 counting noses.  Kid goats ranged from 3.50 to 4.00 for the good quality boer kids and $2.50 to 3.00 on dairy type kids.  Nannies were $1.10 to 1.35 with thin rough nannies at $45 to 85.  Big billies brought $2.10 to 2.70 a lb.
        The outside sale had 750 small squares that sold from $2.00 to 8.00 a bale.  Big bales of new crop hay were at $80 and old crop hay brought up to $95.  Volume was down this week with 100 big bales.   Lots of misc. items and a great crowd on hand again for the outside sale.
        The cattle sale has 1185 head this week.  Inflation is sure evident in the cattle market!   Three weight steers topped at $2.98; 468-pound steers sold at $2.68; 524 pounds at 2.67; 594 pounds at $2.54; some 629-pound steers at $2.54 and even a single 815-pound steers brought $2.13 a lb.  Heifers had equal demand across all weights.   Three weight heifers were up to $2.80; four weights were up to $2.32.  A nice set of black white heifers 569 pounds brought $2.33; 644-pound heifers at 2.17; and 735 pounds at $2.08 alb.
        Weigh cow sale was really awesome!  There were seven cow buyers on the seats Saturday evening.  I can remember so many years of only two and one controlled the market!  At that time we only sold 20 to 40 cows a week.  Over the past year with a competitive cow market, we average close to 200 cows per week!  The top cows were $1.25 to 1.27 with heiferettes and cows going home at $1.40 to 1.60.  Many cows sold for over $1.00 a lb.  The top big bulls brought $1.40 to 1.44.  There were 24 head of weigh up bulls here Saturday.
        We are working thru the last set of 5G heifers day and tomorrow and that will wrap up the AI season for us.  I started mowing hay Sunday evening.  It is a little light but sure good quality so far. 
        I am loading a couple more loads of yearling heifers this week.  The fellas feeding them are not really sure they should be giving $2.00 a lb. for yearling heifers rights now!
        A darn nice run of pairs and some fall bred cows and breeding bulls coming up this Saturday.
 
 
 
Have a Dandy Week!


5-16-2023
        Saturday was muggy and hot to start off the morning.  A big rain shower came by about 10:30 to 11:30 and it got really muggy then.  A cool front came thru in the evening, and it was almost chilly!  We have been lucky to catch a couple of these pop-up showers here around Keosauqua that neighbors have not received.  It has really got the crops off to a great start and the hay and grass is looking good.   Weevils are working on the alfalfa, so we sprayed them to try and hold them off until we mow next week.  The forecast looks to be fairly dry with a chance of rain maybe Thursday.
        This week’s sale had a decent hog run with over 200 head.   Fat hogs sold from $40 to 50.  Sows were $12 to 22 a lb.  Pigs were solid at 70 cents for most weights.  
        The sheep and goat sale had 500 head.  The market is drifting into the summer dull drums!  Fat kid goats were still strong with a $4.60 a lb. top on some weighing 53 pounds.  Nannies sold from $1.00 to 1.22 a lb.  Big billies up to 195 pounds brought $2.07 a lb.  Lambs hit $2.00 a lb. for top quality ones from 50 to 83 pounds.  Cull ewes brought $55 to 80 a lb.
        The outside sale got a bit wet in the shower as Philip started on small squares of hay at 11:00.  We were very short-handed inside, so I stayed in the ring until 11:30 and then went out to sell big bales. (That is when it quit raining!)  Small squares sold at $10 to 11 on alfalfa new crop.  Some very rough old crop hay brought $2.  Big round bales of grass full sized bales brought $100 to 150.   Half sized bales sold from $40 to 65.  Big squares sold for $30 on some soft ones to $60 to 70 on the better kind.   The volume was still high at 700 big rounds and squares.
        The cattle sale had baby beef calves selling from $200 to 500.  Holstein and jersey calves were selling from $50 to 125.   Bred cows and pairs had very solid demand from start to finish on the largest run of cows since we have been in business here.   Over 600 bred cows and pairs and 350 weigh up cows for the sale!  The top pairs sold at $2975.  Several good quality middle aged cows and calves brought 2200 to 2800.  Older pairs and short-term pairs brought $1500 to 2000.  The weigh cow market was steady to a couple dollars higher.  The top cows brought $1 to 1.08 a lb.  Younger cows going home to feed or breed were $1.00 to 1.55.   Lots of cows by the pound at $90 to 1.00 a lb.  Big bulls topped at $1.33.  We finished up by 10 p.m.   It was a long day for the crew.  The heat and humidity made it hard to move stock thru.  Then the rain made it sloppy walking everywhere out back!   The large numbers of pairs can sure be challenging to make sure we are getting them paired up right!  We were lucky and only had to switch tow of those Sunday.  They were tagged wrong coming in and not by the barn crew!
        When I look at the market on the cows sale Saturday, it looks like no one got out of the cows business even though nearly 1000 cows were sold.  Yes, 350 weigh cows are sure out of production but several consignors were moving from fall herds to spring or vice versa.  Very few consignments this week were because of retirement or loss of pasture like we have some cows sales.  ON the buyers side there were three first time buyers that I always like to have involved to continue to grow the market. 
        Sunday evening after loading out and switching pairs around, we were AI ing heifers.   Monday was the big day with 65 in the morning and 112 Monday evening.   Curt was hauling them to the grass as were getting done with them and by Tuesday evening they were all gone!  One group left to get lutelyse Friday and they will be gone by this time next week.   Yahoo!
        A special feeder cattle sale is coming this week.
 
 
 
Have a Dandy Week!
       


5-9-2023
        After a long dry spell, the good Lord blessed us with two very nice rains.  Saturday evening after a hot humid day, we had some wind, a little hail, and an inch of rain.  Sunday night it brewed up another one and we had another 6-7 tenths!  The extra heat and now some water we are off to a great start to the growing season.  There is still some planting to be finished but for the most part everything is in and much of the crop is up or close to it.   Alfalfa is knee high and looks stellar.  The grass is really jumping as well.  The forecast looks good this week with rain chances of 40 to 60 percent as we get towards next weekend again. 
        Saturday’s sale had a shorter run of hogs.  Fat hogs sold from $40 to 55/cwt.   Sows remain very low at $10 to 20/cwt.  A couple of small groups of pigs were around 70 cents a lb.
        The sheep and goat sale had a big number of head again with over 700.  Lambs sold from $1.80 to 2.20 weighing under 80 pounds.  Cull ewes were $40 to 80/cwt.  Hair ewes bred to lamb soon weighing from 100 to 110 pounds brought $105 to 135 per head.   Kid goats sold from $3.40 to 3.80 per lb. on the fat boer types, dairy kids were $2.75 to 3.00 a lb.  Cull nannies sold for $1.10 to 1.35 a lb.  Billies were up to $400 a head.
        The outside sale was loaded with misc. items!  Philip got a good early start but still took until 1:15 to finish.   Small squares sold from $8 to 11 and 100 bales were new crop hay baled last week!   I got out to sell big bales by 11:20. The market continues to be very steady on big bales of hay with folks not quite able to go to grass or grinding hay for rations being gone.  Big rounds were $65 to 70 on small bales and $110 to 130 on full size grass bales.  Big squares were from $60 to 100 per bale.   Demand remains very good here at the end of the season.  Several semi loads came in this week from over 100 miles away.
        The cattle sale ended up with over 1350 head. Baby calves were $50 to 150 on Holsteins and $350 to 550 for beef calves.   Feeder cattle remain in very good demand despite having $5 to 8 whacked off the futures market leading up to the sale.   Four weight steers brought $2.40 to 2.80; five weights $2.25 to 2.75; six weights from $2.10 to 2.40 and nine steers weighing 832 pounds brought $2.02/cwt.  Four weight heifers were mostly $2.20 to 2.48; five weight heifers were $1.90 to 2.26.   Several groups of six weight heifers were still over $2.00 and some 823-pound heifers hit $1.90.   The biggest group sold on Saturday was 38 head!
        A very big run of weigh cows moved again with 225 head sold.  The market was fully steady with the bulk of cows bringing $90 to 1.05.  A few high yielding cows were up to $1.08 to 1.10.   Feeding cows and rebreeds returning home were at $1.25 to 1.50.  Bulls brought from $1.10 to 1.34 a lb.
        The heat and humidity of the day Saturday had the crew wore out!   The rain cooled things off but made it sloppy out back moving livestock.   The boys got some beef enchiladas in them about 9:00 and headed out back to finish loading and turning out the cattle for the night.
        Sunday was busy loading out and by Sunday p.m. we were back in the breeding barn again!  We are on the black white face heifers this week.  They are sure a nice set this year as they leave for summer pasture.  We need to move a few late calving commercial pairs out and a few Hereford pairs from home to a Keosauqua pasture and we will have that done for spring. 
        One of the best line ups of cow calf pairs, fall bred cows and bulls are consigned for this week’s sale.  We will be selling over 400 head.  If you have room, this will sure be a sale you won’t want to miss!
 
 
 
Have a Dandy Week!
 
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