Between wet weather and harvest delays, the fall cattle run was pushed back throughout much of the region. Come December, the fall run did pick up pace at many North Dakota auction markets. Recent runs at Napoleon Livestock have averaged 3,500 to 4,000 head a week. “Prices have been okay, but a little softer than last year. Buyer interest has been steady this month,” says Jim Bitz, co-owner. “Any preconditioned or larger groups of calves always stand out.” While the feeder calf sales have trickled off until the New Year, Bitz is surprised by the number of cows moving through the barn. “We’ve sold a lot more cows in December than we normally would. I think with the wet and snow, pregnancy checking dates got moved further back.”
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