A building that has served as a hub of commerce and friendship in the local cattle industry shut its doors Monday.
Generations upon generations of foothills cattle ranchers have bought and sold their cattle at the Highwood Cattle Auction and chatted with friends about beef prices and the state of the industry over coffee at the auction’s restaurant.
On Monday around two-dozen cattle ranchers came out for the last auction at the Highwood site.
Southern Alberta Livestock Exchange (SALE) is selling the property to Calgary Public Auctions, who wants to hold large equipment auctions at the site.
SALE shareholder Darren Shaw said it has been a tough decision to close the Highwood Livestock Auction.
“There isn’t one of us that doesn’t love that place,” he said. “We put our heart and soul into it. We don’t want to close our doors. We have a lot of good customers, good clients and good friends.”
The increase of video sales and local buying stations has made live auction in the foothills not financially viable, Shaw said.
“It’s a sign of the times,” he said. “Industries change, businesses change. You have to be able to adapt.
The number of cattle brought to the Highwood auction has dropped substantially because of online cattle auctions and selling direct to feedlots, like Tongue Creek Feeders, as well as diminishing ranching activity in the foothills, Shaw said.
“Labour is a big cost,” he said. “We have to have 20 to 25 people for an auction and when you get only 100 or 150 head of cattle it isn’t financially viable.”
Alberta Labour Exchange started their video sales company called Canada Livestock Internet Video Exchange a few years ago and have seen it flourish. Shaw said they sell upwards of 35,000 cattle at one online auction.
However, some ranchers say they believe the live auction ring must survive to ensure producers are getting the fair market price.
Darren Humphrey only buys and sells at live auctions.
Humphrey has been coming to the Highwood auction with his father since it opened in 1985. Humphrey worked at the auction for 10 years.
“It has been three generations of our family who worked here,” he said. “It’s a little hub. You get to see your friends and see how the market is doing. It will be missed.”
He said he wants to see live auctions remain so he doesn’t use video sales.
“Video sales takes the business away from the yards,” he said. “My preference is to do live. Without live sales how do you set the market? If they don’t see what other people are doing?”
On Monday Humphrey was selling his cattle at the market and was pleased with prices – at around $1.28 per pound, but said he is hoping beef prices will continue to hold strong now that his transportation costs will be more than doubling. Humphrey said it costs around $350 to move his cattle from his Gladys Ridge ranch to the Highwood auction, but said it will be around $1,000 for transportation to the nearby Strathmore or Stavely auctions and a little bit more to get them to the Fort Macleod and Lethbridge auctions.
“I hope the prices stay high,” Humphrey said. “Its about he only way we can do it.”
Southern Alberta Livestock Exchange hopes to provide a pen where cattle can be dropped off and transported to their Fort Macleod live auction.
Wayne Barkely said he both buys and sells at live auctions and video sales. He said the demise of live auctions is no surprise.
“It is inevitable,” Barkely said, adding that many auctions around Alberta are amalgamating to bigger centres. “It is better to have 600 cattle in one place, rather than 300 each in two places. It only makes sense.”
He will continue using the live auction, likely in Fort Macleod, he said, explaining they are a part of the industry’s history.
“The auction way of selling cattle has been happening in Alberta since the early 1900s,” he said.
The plan for the rest of the site is to turn it into a large equipment auction. The restaurant will be renovated and continue to operate and other businesses, like the 4H club, will continue to have office space at the site. The MD of Foothills council approved the plan, but the Calgary Public Auction must take a number of steps to ensure they have flood proofed the site. In 2013 the property was underwater during the devastating floods that swept through the foothills, but the buildings were on higher ground and escaped damage.
The new owner will also have to create a plan to move equipment off the site quickly if a flood hits.
