Northern Livestock Auction

Friday I attended the weekly cattle auction in Minot. I don't know how many head were sold, or when the auction started. I left a little before 2 pm and the auction was still going strong.

As I arrived around 11 am several stock trailers pulled up to unload. Late arrivals like me.The parking lot was half full. The stock trailers were long - 5th wheel types. More cars and trailers were in the parking lot when I left, along with a few semi cattle transport trailers waiting to load.

The auction barn is next to the main rail line, but I don't think many cattle are transported via rail anymore. Times change.

A few days ago I re-watched the 1948 classic western: Red River. John Wayne and Montgomery Clift, as father and adopted son, drive a herd of cattle from Texas to a railroad in Kansas to get the cattle to market. Not sure how accurate the movie is depicting the first cattle drive on the Chisholm Trail. Still, a very good movie.

The movie poster is misleading. The romance is between Joanne Dru and Montgomery Clift - not John Wayne. Her character is tough as nails. This being 1948 it pre-dates the modern feminist stereotype.

Today it was not near as crowded inside the auction barn, unlike the other times I attended. Then all the seats with backs were taken, and many of the seat benches were full also. I imagine the bred cow sale on Monday was the sale people attended this week. The people were almost all male aged 40s on up. A few old timers seemed to be there as a social get together to shoot the breeze. A couple wives were at the auction with their husbands for a short time; and a few old guys had their grandkids along.

The beginning of February - winter - and this auction still sold more cattle than the Missoula livestock auction did during their September sales. Ranching is going away west of the Divide in MT.

The few 200 to 300 lb steers were going for $1.60 to 1.66 a lb. The higher weight (400, 500, 600, ...) cattle naturally were sold for less per pound. I'm learning, so I am still confused why some cattle sold for less than others. I get that heifers are worth less than steers; all black cattle sell for more than colored cattle; certain breeds (Angus) are preferred over others (Holstein); rat tailed cattle sell for less; and long bodies are preferred. But I couldn't see the difference between other cattle - why some sold more and others sold less. I don't have the eye others (especially the professional buyers) have to pick out cattle that will gain weight faster. There can be two dozen head crowded and milling in the ring and a buyer will ask for one to be cut and sold separately (always for less). Because a professional buyer asks, the auction ring complies. Even when it would take a few minutes to cut 1 steer out of 27.

An example of differences: same owner, almost the same weight, same sex, cattle looked the same breed. Different color. 3 head black steers, averaging 605 lbs, sold for $1.32 lb. Next in the ring was a grey 615 lb steer. Body and breed looked the same except for color. Sold for $1.23 lb.

One man and woman consigned a large number of nice looking Angus. Selling points are when the cattle have been vacinated and weaned. His cattle weren't vacinated. And when the auctioner - thinking they had been - asked if they had been weaned the owner mumbled. The auctioner asked again as he couldn't hear. Finally the owner said the cattle weren't weaned. That should lessen the price as weaning is stressful (on the calves and on the people who have to hear the calves bawl). This results in a temporary weight loss. ...mainly on the calves. The price quoted in the above paragraph were for some of his cattle.

I brought my brother's camera along to take a few photos. It was well lit inside so I didn't need to use a flash. But I couldn't figure out how to suppress the flash. I took a couple photos of the cattle with the flash and then noticed the bookkeeper would look at me. I was sitting on the side and wanted a photo of the buyers and didn't want my camera's flash distracting them when bidding. I spent some time to figure out how to suppress the flash (not intuitive - not that it really helps me sometimes). I then was able to take a number of photos without fear of distracting people or getting tossed out.

The temperature was in the teens outside and most of the cattle's breath could be seen snorting out both nostrils when they initially entered the ring. After filling their lungs full of warm air inside the ring I no longer could see their breath. I tried but wasn't able to capture in a photo the sight of their breath.