Topeka ? Some Kansas cattle auctions were canceled last week as prices fell in response to the discovery of mad cow disease in a Washington state Holstein, but sellers said they planned to hold auctions this week.

Delaine Rezac said no one complained last week about his canceling his auction at the Rezac Livestock Commission Co., normally held Tuesdays in St. Marys, about 30 miles northwest of Topeka.

By Tuesday, feeder cattle had fallen about $15 per hundredweight. With no clear sign of where cattle prices on the futures market would bottom out, Rezac said it would have been unfair to sellers and buyers to hold the auction.

“We just figured there was no way really to have a price discovery — the futures’ going down every day, and the dress meat was going down,” he said. “They’d come in and be at sale, and (buyers) wouldn’t know what to give you for anything.”

Dan Harris, owner of the Holton Livestock Exchange Inc., said he, too, canceled his Tuesday auction.

“The main reason I think that we chose to be closed was a little protection or shielding maybe some of our producers from a market that was hard to establish,” he said.

Come this Tuesday, however, both Harris and Rezac said they planned to be open for business no matter what the markets do.

“I don’t know where it’s going to be at,” Rezac said. “I hope it levels out.”

On Friday, there was a glimmer of hope for cattle producers and sellers. For the first time since the news broke, prices for live and feeder cattle were up on the futures market.

Federal officials have said they believe the first U.S. case of mad cow disease, which was discovered in a cow slaughtered Dec. 9, poses no threat to public safety.

Humans who eat brain or spinal matter from an infected cow can develop a brain-wasting illness, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. During a mad cow outbreak in the 1980s, about 150 people died of it in Britain.

As the No. 2 beef state in the country in 2002 behind Texas, Kansas stands to lose billions if concern over mad cow spreads to the dining table.

Dave Strathman, a farmer in Axtell, raises cattle until they are about 800 to 900 pounds, then sells them to feedlots or other ranchers. Strathman currently has about 400 cattle he is preparing for future sale. Although Strathman said he has some 800-pound cattle ready for sale at any time, he’s holding off.

“I guess we’ll just sit and wait and see what happens,” Strathman said early Friday. “I’m hoping I don’t have to take a hit. Chances are, we might.”

The sale of farm equipment at some Kansas businesses also has been affected by the discovery of mad cow in Washington state.

“I have people that were going to make big purchases,” said Gary Henry, manager of Henry Brothers Implement Inc. in Seneca. “Some of them hadn’t decided but were going to decide before the end of the year and now this has delayed it.”

Alan Martinek, sales manager for Rossville Truck and Tractor, said he could count five deals that had fallen through or been put on hold since the mad cow news broke Dec. 23.

“If the cattle market stays where it’s at now or keeps continuing to go down, it can have a pretty rotten effect on your business,” Martinek said.

But he was optimistic that prices would rebound.

“Most everyone I’ve talked to feels it’s going to be a short-term deal. I’ve heard fellas say anywhere from four to six weeks,” he said.