From The Cap Times
There were 37 auctions listed in the “farm auction” section of the Wisconsin State Farmer weekly ag newspaper on April 22. Included were a number of community consignment sales, several lawn-and-garden type auctions, a few horse and tack sales, a dozen or so farm equipment auctions, a “repo” auction and 13 auctions involving dairy cattle.
Most of these scheduled farm auctions (although many did not involve actual farms) were to be held at central sites including fairgrounds, county highway garages and private auction barns owned by the auction management companies.
Although 500 or more dairy herds have been leaving the Wisconsin dairy scene each of the past half dozen years, few of these auctions involving dairy cattle were held on the actual farm.
Auction companies tell me that the small dairy herds are often sold directly to the larger dairy operators, who cull severely, and add the remainder to their own herd.
This saves the farmer the time and expense of holding an auction on the farm and avoids the gamble on the weather and not having a crowd of strangers tromping through their barn and farmstead.
In recent years, the centralized auction barns scattered across the state seem to be the favored site for many dairy farm dispersals. No fussing with cows not familiar with being handled by strangers, a good loading dock, built-in chairs (or bleachers), a sound system that can be heard and details taken care of by experts. And, maybe most important, a sort of built-in cadre of dairy cattle buyers.
The Stade Auction Company had three dairy auctions this week, two of them held at their Richland Cattle Center at Ithaca.
Monday saw a rather hastily called credit liquidation sale of 150 head of dairy cattle from one herd at Ithaca. On Wednesday the regular weekly dairy auction at the same facility saw 200 head of Holsteins — many from the Lloyd and Arlene Morley herd in Adams county – who are retiring from dairying — pass under Bill Stade’s gavel.
An auction scheduled for Friday at their Fort Atkinson site includes but 50 cattle among a host of other items.
The Wednesday auction seemed to offer a good view of dairy cattle prices and possibly gain insight into the state dairy scene — so I attended.
If all you know about auctions is what you might have seen on TV, you might be surprised when attending a dairy auction at a place like Richland Cattle Center.
It’s quiet other than the rather monotone chant of Bill Stade, the auctioneer. No yelling or pointing when bids are offered. In fact, it takes a keen observer to even see who is bidding, although Stade and his son Mike (who, while also an auctioneer, was working inside the ring moving cattle this day) never miss a bid.
The seats in the arena are filled with a diverse crowd. Interested buyers — those buying for regular or potential dairy farmer customers — are probably in the front row or two. Other potential buyers (perhaps other dairy producers) interested in adding a cow or two to their herd may be standing off to the side.
You have to be fast a fast thinker and fast mover to be a successful cattle buyer. No pondering or seeking advice from a spouse or friend (unless the price is way up there as happens at a major, registered and well-known sale when some leeway will be given) or you’ll miss your chance.
The cows were selling well this day, for this kind of herd, with many cows going in the $1,400 to $1,500 range. Remember, this was an average sort of herd and sale prices are not in in the many thousands that you see being paid at the big sales like those at World Dairy Expo. Or at well publicized registered breed sales where big money is often paid for individual animals.
At the back of the auction arena there are a row of tables with chairs behind where one can lean on elbows while drinking coffee and dunking a donut. “These are the stadium boxes,” one sitter proclaimed. “We don’t buy anything, we’re mostly second guessers.”
There is a regular flow of people from the seats to the food at the back of the room where in a small kitchen, counter and hand held calculator Willow Creek United Methodist Church (located a half mile down the road at Ithaca) volunteers — Doris Eck, Alice Richards and her brother-in-law John Richards serve food. (The special of the day was potato salad at 75 cents a scoop.)
“This is our ninth year here,” John Richards says. “It’s been great for our church.”
“Yes, it’s been a life saver for us,” Alice Richards says. “It’s helped build a new parsonage, a belfry and add a sound system.”
It’s also a boon to those those folks attending the sales who do like their coffee and lunches.
A slight, blonde women seated on a table at the far corner of the arena and seemingly not bidding or otherwise participating in the auction drew my curiosity.
“I’m a trucker, I haul cattle from the sale to their next destination,” Vicki Roska says. “Actually I drive a pickup truck and pull a 30-foot trailer.”
It turns out that Vicki and her husband Jeremy Roska are fulltime truckers based at Markesan. She hauls livestock six days a week, he hauls hay, straw and farm equipment.
“I’ve driven trucks and trailers for a long time,” she explained. “I was raised on a farm and have driven semis for custom harvesters and for my mother-in-law Peggy Roska, who was in the business for a long time and taught me.”
Vicki said that friends and farmers wonder how she can drive a livestock trailer through rain, snow and all kinds of miserable weather.
“I love the cattle and the people,” she said. “I am a regular at the major livestock sales barns like Great Northern at Fond du Lac, the Cow Palace at Kaukauna, and here at the Richland Cattle Center.”
Roska says she also regularly attends farm auctions, hauls cattle from farm to farm and from farms to the Milwaukee Stock Yards at Reeseville.
Every farmstead is a challenge, she admits. Some of the Amish driveways and barn areas are small and narrow and I smile when I see a big barn door and lots of drive way to get to it.
Her trailer will haul 15 average size dairy cows and often she will make two trips from the sale site to a variety of destinations.
How does she get business?
“I come to the sale like today and sit in the back of the room in the same spot and hope cattle buyers will come over and talk with me,” Vicki says. “I have several regular customers who know I’ll be there. Hopefully they will tell others that I do a good job and refer me.”
The sale ended at about 3 p.m. Buyers were lined up at the small office at the back of the arena paying their bill; the Methodist church crew was packing up; the livestock haulers were lining up at the barn ramp and the buyers, sellers and watchers were on their way home.
Vicki Roska had been contacted to haul 13 dairy animals that would be going to new homes in the Jefferson and Ripon areas. Her day was about to get active: Get in line to load, back up to the ramp, load the animals and get on the road.
Another sale was done.
Hopefully the cattle sellers were pleased and the buyers happy. And most of the big crowd, who came for watching and talking, saw something interesting and learned a bit. Or at least had a good time.
John F. Oncken is owner of Oncken Communications, a Madison based agricultural information and consulting company. He can be reached at 608-222-0624.
