Auction Marts Dealing With Increased Numbers

Jul 16, 2021

It's a busy time for livestock auction marts.

Harold Unrau is manager of Grunthal Livestock Auction Mart.

"We're starting to see more cattle rolling through the ring here, all because of drought of course. The further north you go, the worse the drought is. They're trying to figure out what they're going to do with their cattle because they're running out of pasture. We actually had some cattle in here from up at Fisher Branch because they are out of grass. Locally here, if we get a rain here this week or beginning of next week, I think our producers will kind of be okay, at least most of them. If we don't get a rain for the next week or two, they're going to be out of pasture and the hay is really in short supply."

Unrau says normally throughout the summer they see about 100 head a week. This year that number is around 300.

He adds they are currently gearing up for an early fall run.

Click here to see more...

Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

We're a 6th generation family farm in southeast Iowa showing the real ups and downs of pig farming and row crop farming. No script, just the work. Subscribe and follow along.

JOIN THE BARN TALK NEWSLETTER AND GET LIVE EVENT ACCESS: We're on a mission to hit 10,000 subscribers, and when we do, we're hosting a live event at the barn. Sign up for exclusive access to tickets and details.