Wet Ground Fails to Sell at Havelock Auction

Nearly thirty bidders in the Havelock Amvets hall today offered only two bids for farmland adjoining the town to the northeast.  Neither bid came close to the seller's reserve.

The auctioneer from Farmer's National said he had been offered $4000 per acre for the land when he opened the bidding.  He soon garnered a bid for $4100 but that was it.

After a recess he said the Lloyd Peterson trust sellers wanted $7200 for the 146 acres.  No one would bid that much.

The land is a mile from the drainage ditch west of town.  The sale bill says a large county tile line already exists on the property.  The land has no legal restrictions regarding drainage potential.

Under the CSR II regime the property is rated at nearly 83.  It is largely Canisteo, Webster, and Nicollet soils which rate at 86 or better on CSR II.  The CSR ratings assume optimal tiling.  This property also has more than ten percent of its acres in Knoke and Okoboji soils which rate only 55 even on the more generous CSR II scale.

One neighbor commented that at least the field has a crop this year.  Last year about a third of it was drowned out, he said.  Another farmer reported an auction yesterday in Pocahontas had the same result--no sale--on land that is said to always be either drowned out or burnt up.

Just before the sale corn at the local Pro Co-op had closed at $3.91, nearly the highest it has been since harvest.