Bearish Bull Market Wary Ranchers Hold Down Bids At Northwest’s Premier Bull Auction

Frothing, rhino-sized Black Angus yearlings don’t especially like to be primped, powdered and coiffured. But what’s a bull to do when it’s owners have it by a spring-clamp nose ring?

“We do just about everything to the bull that a woman does to her hair, then more,” said JoLee Riley, a rancher from Summer Lake, Ore., who was combing My Pal Pat at the 11th annual Cowman’s Classic Bull Sale.

My Pal Pat, a champion Limousin, seemed a tad annoyed Tuesday as Riley brushed it and led it to the auction pavilion. Pat was one of 211 young bulls that passed weight, scrotum and semen inspection for bidding at the Interstate Fairgrounds.

“They’re beauties,” said Oregon rancher Orvin Hought. “You even get attached to them sometimes, but then you have to put groceries on the table.”

The largest bull auction in the Northwest, Cowman’s Classic attracted 500 ranchers and breeders from several states and Canada.

Paying more than $4,000 for a 2,000-pound Angus or Polled Hereford bull used to be fairly common. But ranchers this year are more cautious about their bovine expenditures, since the 1995 livestock market is hardly bullish.

Temperatures and moisture conditions this winter produced healthy cattle, but the market may be bottoming out. Ranchers have overproduced as more consumers choose fish or chicken over red meat. Those who do eat beef demand higher quality.

Amid this caution, even champions fetched fewer dollars than in 1994.

Hought hoped to sell two Red Angus and two Black Angus bulls that he hauled to Spokane from Terrebonne, Ore. His 1,070-pound, reserve champion Black Angus yearling fetched $2450 - the median bid for all bulls last year.

“Sales are off by about $2,000 from last year,” Hought said. Official auction results, giving total sales and average prices, were not available late Tuesday.

The 1995 show was the first to include work horses. The eight horses and ponies up for bid were part of an overall expansion of Cowman’s Classic, which this year featured commercial exhibits for cattle equipment.

“You can get everything you need here. You can come to the event and go home to start your own ranch,” show manager Gary Kendall said.

Bulls were the main draw for ranchers, who listened attentively to auctioneer Butch Booker.

More than 100 Black Angus bulls snorted and chomped in the auction and exhibition rooms. Shorthorn, Salers, Simmental, Limousin, Charolais and Red Angus bulls were also for sale.