By Matt Pouncy

Cattle sales still strong despite drought

Aug 24, 2018 | 5:13 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — The hot and dry summer for southeast Alberta has cattle ranchers wondering if their cattle will be bringing top dollar this fall.

Recent auctions at Medicine Hat Feeding Co. has buyers like Garth Schlenker with Gateway Limited, enjoying the product they see.

“Well you know the cattle today, that came off grass today, we’re talking between 900-1,000 lb steers,” said Schlenker. “Historically that’s a really good average for cattle coming off of grass. So, those cattle certainly didn’t look like they had a bad summer to me.”

That was good news for seller Randy Lehr. He says moisture in the ground from fall and spring helped at the beginning of the year.

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“The grass got off to a decent start, it’s obviously dried up now but the gains on the cattle over the summer have been really good, actually surprisingly good.  We were surprised at the weights coming in,” said Lehr.

Lehr relies on pasture to feed his cattle all summer and they’re selling well at the auction.

Lyle Taylor, general manager at Medicine Hat Feeding Co, says that wasn’t the case earlier in the year.

“These same cattle were bringing quite a bit less. $150 less at the end of June.  The July and August market has gone up for this weight of cattle,” said Taylor.

Taylor says feed lots purchase the cattle to fill slots, to line up for when they slaughter.

He added this summer’s drought could also be playing a part.

“We’re coming to the calf run starting in later September or early October, and it continues well into November.  One year we had a large drought, we were done selling cows by the end of October. Just because there’s no more grass and the people gotta move them,” said Taylor.

Lehr is happy with the price he’s getting but says he’s taking a wait and see approach for next year.

“We have had two years now of not good grass growth, because it’s been dry for two summers now.  Some reserves are depleting,” said Lehr. “We got through this year fine but next year if things don’t turn around, we’re going to have to look at running less cattle on grass.”