Video: West Point Cattle Auction

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WEST POINT, Miss. (WCBI)-To the untrained ear, it might as well be static on the radio. But at auction barns across Northeast Mississippi, thousands of cattle are being bought and sold by farmers and dealers from as far away as the Midwest. It’s been a near-record year for cattle prices.

Focusing his gaze around the room of bidders, cattleman and auctioneer Sammie Barlow spits out that familiar rhythmic language that translates into dollars in the cattle business.

“It’s just gifted to me. I never did go to school to learn it or nothing. It just, the good Lord just give it to me,” said Barlow.

As the livestock comes running through the gates, cattlemen at this auction are careful not to move a muscle until they feel they can successfully grab the highest bid.

“They go through there. They are liable to bring about $2.20 a pound. And that’s a pretty good price,” said Fredrick Jones, Monroe County Cattleman

“The prices are real good on cattle right now. The calves and yearling are awful high. You know, like a 300 pound calf will bring way up in the two dollar a pound and everything is real good on your beef type cattle right now,” said Barlow.

Six weeks ago, prices hit a high for the year. And many experts expect that trend to continue for a few more months at least. So hanging on every word and number from a man who is helping them seal a good deal, these buyers and sellers of cattle are hoping to move their financial bottom line in the right direction.

“We probably going to have eight or nine head today. And you know a normal sale, you know 600,” said Barlow.

For West Point Stockyard personnel this was their first day of business since returning from the Thanksgiving Holiday.