On Tuesdays, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, visits with Ben Hale of Western Livestock Auctions as he talks about the latest in the markets and more. Established in 1995, Western has grown into a multi-generational family-owned and operated business and stands as a symbol of tradition, excellence, and a deep-rooted passion for the cattle industry. Western Livestock Auctions operates the Western Livestock Commission Firm- selling cattle on Mondays and Tuesdays. They also operate the livestock auction markets in Woodward, Comanche and Knoxville, Iowa.
At the first sale of the year at Western Livestock Auctions, 7,500 cattle were sold compared to about 14,000 a year ago and prices remained high. Hale believes that frigid temperatures kept many producers from bringing them to town but didn’t hurt the market at all.
“There was a set of black steers that weighed 755 and brought way up into the two seventies,” Hale said. “We had some 769 weight heifers bring up in the upper two fifties, lower two sixties – just some standout, nice cattle with a lot of condition. On the grazing cattle, I mean were extremely strong. A lot of them five-weight cattle or those tight six-weight cattle that were real good, green, front-end steers – some of them brought up in the three-ten to three-twenty range.”
Hale felt that the cattle were better quality and the weigh-up conditions were better than at the last sale. He looks forward to the upcoming sales at Woodward and Comanche this week.
Hale can be contacted at 940-631-2333. Check out more about the marketing options that Western offers by clicking here.
