UCANR
A water meeting is held at the Shasta Livestock Auction Yard in Cottonwood, Calif. The auction yard announced it is moving entirely to video marketing and the country cattle trade. The Shasta and Woodburn livestock auction yards announce they will move to online sales.
Two well-known West Coast livestock auction yards announced this week they will permanently move to online-only sales.
The Shasta Livestock Auction Yard in Cottonwood, Calif., and the Woodburn Livestock Exchange in Woodburn, Ore., will cease in-person auctions at their facilities after wrapping up final sales this month.
Shasta Livestock general manager Brad Peek told the Redding Record Searchlight that auction yard sales will be shutting down after the scheduled Feb. 12 sale. He told the newspaper the 55-year-old business plans to focus on video marketing and the country cattle trade, which is direct trading off ranches.
Tim Hearden
Mary Simmons of Great Basin Seed in Ephraim, Utah, talks with Casey Sever during the trade show at the Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale. Social interactions at the Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale provided a sense of relief from the isolation of recent months.
The Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale has always been a social gathering. The five-day extravaganza of livestock auctions, a trade show and other activities has long been a chance for people who’ve been coming for years to reconnect with friends they’ve made in the industry.
But this year, the mingling brought an extra sense of relief for the hundreds of buyers, consigners and livestock-related businesspeople who’ve been isolating since last March because of the coronavirus.
Buyers spend nearly $1.29 million, the highest since the $1.49 million generated in 2016.
Buyers’ spending on bulls at the 80
th Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale reached a five-year high, as they shelled out nearly $1.29 million for 282 bulls – an average of $4,585 per bull.
The total at the Jan. 30 auction was the highest since 2016, when bidders spent $1.49 million for 305 bulls. The average was the highest since 2015, when buyers spent an average of $6,554 per bull in what was a record year for prices.
This year’s top-priced bull was a champion Sim-Angus sold by Little Shasta Ranch to Rick and Linda Anderson of Eagle Point, Ore., for $16,500.
79-year-old Don Cardey has been selling top-priced Angus and other bulls in Red Bluff for decades. 79-year-old Don Cardey has been selling top-rated Angus and other bulls in Red Bluff for decades.
When it comes to the Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale’s rich history, Don Cardey has seen it all. Or at least, he’s seen most of it.
Cardey, 79, attended his first sale with his father in 1959. Over the decades, his Cardey Ranches in Turlock, Calif., has consistently sold the top-priced Angus and other bulls at the annual auction. And he’s seen lots of changes.
“In the old days there were all white-faced and horned bulls, no Angus,” Cardey told Farm Progress during the 80
Tim Hearden
Bob Hickman, owner of Hickman Saddlery in Post Falls, Idaho, operates a display at the Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale. He normally does 20 trade shows a year, but this was his first one since last year’s Red Bluff event. Work continued for ranchers, while others spent more time with their horses.
Many businesses suffered in 2020, but Bob Hickman’s saddlery shop in Post Falls, Idaho, more than held its own.
“This last year was the best year we’ve ever had,” Hickman, owner of Hickman Saddlery, said at the Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale. “No. 1, Idaho is wide open, and we had all these Washington customers because we’re right on the border.