It is the time of the year for me to send you all a big thank you card and a letter of the changes at La Junta Livestock, and the forecast of my opinion on what the market is going to be for this Fall, Winter & Spring. First off, we here at La Junta Livestock want to thank you all for your business, without you we could not do our job. Thank you very much.

            I want to share something we are doing here to give you better service and better prices. In the middle of July, we installed a new computer system from Sale Time Systems. It is pretty fancy with all the bells & whistles. This system has everything we need and more. We can go back and watch the sale and make sure the price is what is on the sale sheet or purchase sheet. We have cameras to check head counts when the cattle are unloaded or loaded. These things will help to make sure all is right, and we do not have mistakes. We also have a chip reader on the back tags that scans the tags, this helps for figuring out cattle in the heat of the sale and for loading out.

            Some of you do not know that Sandy Singer has retired, she has been here for 35 years. She has been very loyal, a hard worker, a friend to you and our family. Sandy will be missed in our everyday business, but she is still working on Wednesdays, stop by and tell her hi! MaKayla Maes is our new office manager. She is very smart, a hard worker, and I am very proud to have her here. Loree Dietrich and Marrisa Hollis are our new office assistant managers. They are all good people, hard workers, and are fun to be around, but they say the boss is a grumpy old man, HA HA!!!

            We have also done some more improvements and we remodeled the café and the men’s restroom. The Café looks very nice. Megan Place James runs the restaurant and does a very good job, come by and have a good meal with her and her eight girls, oh sorry five girls, HA HA! We are still working outside putting pipe up every Summer, this year we did not get as much put up as we would have liked because of all the rain. Loved the rain for all our pastures, the sale barn, and watermelons and cantaloupe. Too much rain is not wanted, but maybe the best year as far as I can remember in my lifetime. I know some places that have not been as lucky, your turn is next. We will keep our fingers crossed for you.

            As far as the cattle market, I would like to tell you some facts and some predications. We at La Junta Livestock sell on a percentage, our commission was 2.75%, but as high as cattle are going to be we all voted to lower it to 2.50%, to give you all more savings for a better bottom line. Also, with cattle that come in early we can help you on the hay bill. Coming in on Sunday or Monday, we can help a little bit to give you a better bottom line. We also are going to have five sales of butcher cows & bulls, heiferettes, and bred cows on Thursdays: October 19^th & 26^th, November 2^nd, 9^th & 16^th. We will start at 10:00am on Thursdays, this will help to keep from selling so late. On Wednesdays we will be starting at approximately 9:00am, this will help to get the sale done before it gets real late. As far as bred cow sales go, they will be on Saturdays November 1, December 2^nd  & 16^th. Also, we are having a complete dispersal for Tee Cross Ranch on Saturday September 30^th. They are selling 618 bred cows from first calf heifers, replacement heifers, young & old cows, 600 calves weighing 400 to 600 steers & heifers, and 29 bulls. They are big time genetics black Angus, Hereford and Saler Genetics. If you need good genetics for your cow herd this would be a great set of cows to add to your herd.

            Now for my predictions on the prices for this Fall, Winter & Spring cattle. First thing I would like to mention is the feedback from the buyers, they would like to see a better shot program, dehorn, and castration. A suggested shot program is 8 way, 5 way example calvary 9 & vista 5 (ask your local vet) & boosters. I know some of you do not have the facility to do this, so I understand, just giving you my customer feedback that will help get as many buyers in here to buy your cattle. Weaning is another thing that can help, but they need it at least 30 to 35 days or more for the buyers to feel like they will not get sick when they take them to the feed yard. I think that we will see record highs in all aspects of price on cattle. There will be calves in the spring bringing up to $4.00 per pound. 700 pound steers could be $3.00 per pound. Butcher bulls over $1.50 per pound. This all should have happened 2 or 3 years ago, but major drought over big areas have filled the void with sell off from ranches. With this being said prices & weather go hand & hand. No wheat and high corn made cheaper cattle & higher cost of gain the last few years. Right now it looks like we could see some wheat pasture this fall and a lot cheaper corn and hay at the feed yards. This is kind of the same cycle we have seen year after year, as far back as the 1960’s.

On a calf market, October is usually the cheapest month to sell, after Thanksgiving, it gets higher because more calves are weaned and the weather is colder in the day time. After the first of the year, the price increases again with calves for wheat and the start of purchasing light calves for grass and big calves to fill empty pens in the feed yard. I know some of you have to sell at certain times because of taxes, feed, pasture, and bank notes, I get that, but letting you all know 9 out of 10 times this is the market cycle. Last, everyone wants to know how long is going to last. In my opinion for as long as cattle numbers stay low. Sometime in the near future more ranches, the market and farmers are going to keep more heifers to breed. It takes 18 to 24 months before those heifers are born, weaned, bred, calved out calf grown up & marketed, in those 2 years, you have sold out of opens and old cows. To increase the numbers, it is going to be at least 3 years, unless we have a major drought to fill the cattle numbers.

            Finally, I hope all is good with you, your family and your cattle. If you have any questions, you can call our local reps: Jace Honey, Brian Elder, Keo Honey, John Malouff (San Luis Valley, Gunnison Valley, & Northern New Mexico), Buddy Johnson (Central Colorado), Robert Campbell (Four Corners area), Cody Downare (Southeast Colorado), Daryel (Punk) McCurry (Southeast Colorado), George Malouff (Southern Colorado & Northern New Mexico).

Enclosed is an update form for address, telephone, and email information changes. Please fill out and return by mail or email to La Junta Livestock (lajuntalivestock@gmail.com) if changes are needed. Like us on Facebook and visit our website (ljlivestock.com) and watch for market and sale information. Our website lists upcoming sales, area truckers, order buyers, local grow yards, and brand inspector information as well as the market reports, consignments, and Jace’s notes.

You may also buy online as well as watching the cattle sell. If you plan on purchasing online make sure to register a few days prior to the Wednesday or Saturday sale. Go online @ lmaauctions.com. If you would like to receive the Fence Post contact them @ 1-800-275-5646.

Thank you for your business and we look forward to being of service to you.

Please help us update your address, telephone number, and email address. Also would you like to receive weekly emails containing market information, consignments, upcoming Special Sales & Jace’s Notes? Our Market Report is also in the Fence Post. Contact the Fence Post at 1-800-275-5646 if you would like to receive it.

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Thank you for your help and you may email this info to La Junta Livestock at lajuntalivestock@gmail.com or mail this form if changes are needed to PO Box 69,La Junta, CO 81050.

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