Another Perspective on Livestock Markets

        Another market today—Rosebush Livestock Market—though instead of culled cows and feeders, this one was a dairy market.  The two different focuses of these markets was evident by the environment and the prices.  The Ravenna market reminded me of an old barn where function is emphasized, not aesthetics.  Gates are repaired by whatever spare boards are around and no one seems to mind the lack of lighting, cobwebs, or dust in the air.  The auction area is basically a miniaturized arena with a half circle of gates separating whatever animal is for sale from the prospective bidders.  Seats are a hodge-podge of whatever bleacher seats were originally installed and various chair substitutions to cover up broken seats.  Buyers were quite the set of people- lots of hair, missing teeth, and clearly looking for a deal.  Calves were sold by the pound.

            In contrast to the old barn that resembled the Ravenna Market, Rosebush was like a show facility: clean, freshly painted, and every chair actually matched.  The crowd was a mixture of what I would call the typical producer and Amish farmers.  Heifer calves were not sold by the pound, but by a starting price of around $300 and typically got raised much higher by bidders.

                         Auctioning off heifer calves at the Rosebush Market           
     Instead of just touring and observing this market, Danielle and I got put to work generating movement permits for purchased heifers.  In order to move cattle across TB zones, say from this sale in the Isabella county—MAAZ Subzone 3—to the Upper Peninsula—TB free zone—the cattle would cross 3 TB boundaries.  They would start in MAAZ Subzone 3, cross into MAAZ subzone 2 once they enter Clare county, then into MAAZ subzone 1 at Crawford county, and finally into the TB free zone when they cross the bridge.  To legally move cattle across these zones in Michigan, and to make it past the Mackinac Bridge inspection point, all cattle must be officially identified with an RFID tag and producers must have a movement certificate that says where the animals are coming, where they are going, and that the animals are TB-free.  These permits can be created through the USAHERDs database program, but with a slow internet connection, they can take some time to create.  Danielle and I helped to enter every cow that a producer bought while the state field veterinarian ran back and forth getting RFID numbers and adding tags.  We worked with USDA inspector Laura and Dr. Schwarck.