Due to the drought and forage shortages, Hub City Livestock Auction co-owner Steve Hellwig has been selling a lot of weigh-up cows. “The percentage of opens in our country is probably a little higher than normal, but what we’re noticing is that people are culling their eight–to-12-year-old bred cows. The percentage of weigh-ups in Aberdeen sold this year is probably ten-to-15 percent higher in our December sales and I anticipate the first couple weeks of January to be pretty heavy with weigh-ups as well”. The feeder cattle market has also been in a steady incline the past few months. “The feeder cattle market has gotten higher each month,” said Hellwig. “We started mediocre in October; as soon as we hit Thanksgiving, the market jumped sharply and December here has just elevated even more. I think the feeder cattle market going into January will set new highs and we’re going to see home prices that we haven’t seen since 2014.” Hellwig expects feeder cattle sell sooner than normal. “A lot of producers in our area that normally keep them until March will probably sell them in January due to feed and due to the markets.”
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