In-person beef sale surprises with more than 200 attendees

INDIAN RIVER — Farm country doesn’t have too many in-person events going on these days. But the annual Source for Success sale by Indian River Cattle Company decided the show must go on.
The Sept. 19 sale brought in over 200 people, all socially distanced, said owner Billy Elmhirst. “I’d say the crowd was very similar to other years.” While the COVID-19 pandemic unquestionably kept some people away, bizarrely it drew others in. “Some people from Quebec who’d never come before, (and) other parts of Ontario, because they were always showing cattle on the weekend.”
And by any metric the sale was a success. The 62 lots went for an average of $4,860. Not bad considering there’s a global pandemic going on.
The top-seller, a heifer calf named SRJ Haylee 33H, went for $21,500, and was sold to a farm in northern Ontario, Elmhirst said. Two two runners-up, both owned by Indian River Cattle Company, sold for $15,000 each, he added.
Surprisingly, online interest was actually down. The sale always takes bids online and there were fewer digital buyers this year. And for the first time ever, there were no American buyers whatsoever. “Even though cattle can go across the border, I think people are hesitant,” he said.