The Assiniboia Livestock Auction is located in the ranching area of southern Saskatchewan.  Most of our customers make their living with cattle.  As a result they have been very astute when selecting modern genetics.  We have some of the best cattle in the world right here on our doorstep.

Since we are dealing predominantly with ranch cattle, we see most of these cattle come to market in the fall.  In fact, we sell sixty to seventy thousand head of cattle in a six-week period.  In the next ten months, we only sell thirty to forty thousand head.

In the fall all of the calves here are presorted prior to sale.  That is, all of the good five hundred pound black steers (for example) are sorted and weighed into the same pen, regardless of owners.  When we get a liner load we start a new pen.  At the bigger sales (5500 head) we have had as many as six liner loads of 500 lb. top cut black steers, five loads of 550's, four loads of 600 pounders, etc.  We'll sell each weight group on a roll.  The highest bidder can take his choice of pens or all the pens at the same bid.

We seem to be the presort capital of the world.  Market operators from five different provinces and several different states have come over to see how we do it.  Some took ideas home with them, others left so mind boggled that they never tried presorting.  It is a lot of work. It takes a lot of manpower, patience, and expertise.  We do it because our customers want it done and done right.  It has practically eliminated country buying in our area.

    

We were among the first auction markets to buy into the Market Master Computer presort program about twelve years ago.  It was a Godsend.  There are reams of paperwork involved when you weigh and pen different owners' cattle together.  The computer even tells us what pen the cattle go to after calculating the pencil shrink for us.  Then when we sell them, all that information (price, buyer, weight, and pen #) has to be retrieved and printed on the settlement statements.  Cheques have to be printed while sellers are waiting to pick them up after the sale.  Buyers' invoices and recaps are readily available.

We couldn't do 5500 head per day without the computer.  We have had some nerve-wracking experiences since we bought our first program, but they have always been there at any time of the day or night to help us through it.  Since we were the first to use the presort program extensively, we have more input into it than anyone, and they always listened to and implemented our suggestions.

The always live up to my expectations, and I have high expectations of everyone.

Roy Rutledge, Owner and Manager of Assiniboia Livestock Auction

Assiniboia Livestock Auction - http://www.assiniboiaauction.com