Sale brings 6,120 cattle to local livestock auction

More than 200 ranchers and 6,000 cattle came together on Thursday in what Mitchell Livestock Auction co-owner Don Stange said was the biggest auction held at the facility since he and his partner took over the business last year.

The special feeder-cattle sale brought a total of 6,120 head of cattle to Mitchell from across the state and part of Iowa.

Seeing the lighter-weight feeder cattle sell higher and the heavier-weight cattle sell steady was a sign that things might be moving in the right direction, Stange said.

“There is just a lot of optimism in the cattle market,” he said, over the sound of an auctioneer’s voice and the staggered “hup!” of the ring men that signified another bid. “Maybe we’re heading for some better times.”

Although it’s hard for some non-ranchers to imagine spring as the temperature stayed below 20 degrees on Thursday, the big cattle numbers also show that ranchers are preparing for the upcoming months, Stange said.

“A lot of people probably want to sell a few of them now before it gets muddy in their yards,” Stange said. “A lot of people will start to calve and want to get some of the cattle out of the yard to make room for a new generation.”

Stange and Marion Rus took over ownership of the Mitchell Livestock Auction in September 2009.

Since then, cattle sales have been moved from Monday to Thursdays.

To Stange, Thursday’s auction was a sign of the auction’s growing popularity as well as the increasing loyalty of area cattle producers.

“There are a lot of producers out there that want Mitchell to work,” Stange said. “That helps a lot.”

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