GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) - John Antonich spent a fair chunk of time driving to Great Falls on a recent day, a heavily loaded trailer hitched to his truck.

But rather than heading to the livestock sales ring or a grain elevator, common destinations for agriculture producers, he pulled the trailer onto the scale at Steel Etc. in downtown Great Falls. He climbed the narrow wooden stairs to the sales office, where he was on first-name basis with workers.

His haul: Fragments of farm machinery, a heavy engine block, and other pieces of twisted, dented metal gleaned from his property near Raynesford.

"We will probably bring in seven loads before we are done," Antonich said.

To the untrained eye, Antonich's load was junk. But to Joe Filipowicz and others at Steel Etc., it was the good stuff: Thick, No. 1 scrap iron that is bringing top dollar in the scrap recycling market.

While skyrocketing prices for gold, copper and other metals are making headlines, the less-glamorous scrap metal business is thriving too. And high prices are making scrap collectors out of all sorts of farmers, ranchers and other folks.

Scrap prices are being driven by several factors, including strong domestic demand for steel products and explosive growth in other parts of the world. While demand for steel in China has tapered off in recent months, other countries are looking to the United States for steel. Turkey is currently a big player in the scrap market, noted Ray Wahlert, president and chief executive officer of Pacific Steel and Recycling.

"It truly is a world market anymore," he said.

Scrap metal delivered to the mill brought less than $100 per ton in 2002. These days, prices for some types of scrap iron are pushing $290 per ton.

"It's amazing," Filipowicz said. "We are getting tons and tons of it. I didn't realize there was this much scrap in Montana."

Indeed on a recent morning, there were several trucks loaded with scrap in all shapes and sizes waiting to pull onto the scale at Steel Etc.

The scene is the same at Pacific Steel and Recycling in Great Falls. Looking out his window, "I watch them go by with all sorts of stuff," said Wahlert.

Scrap metal is big business for Pacific, a Great Falls-based company with 37 branches in seven states.

Both Pacific and Steel Etc. buy scrap, sort it, bundle it up and ship it off to mills, mostly in the Midwest.

"It gets re-melted and comes out the other end," said Wahlert. "It's rebar, sheet plate and that kind of stuff."

The local scrap players rely on the railroad to ship the metal to mills, working to cram as much as they can into gondola cars, designed for heavy loads.

Like ag producers, the recyclers are often faced with a shortage of rail cars.

"Our biggest issue is railroad cars," Wahlert said. "It's a real issue in the Northwest."

With such demand, getting as much scrap into a rail car as possible is critical.

Late last year, Steel Etc., bought a large, Italian-made Sierra 750 shear and baler. At $1.5 million, it was big investment for the 75-employee company.

The large machine allows workers to cut scrap into smaller pieces and makes handling it less time consuming. Steel Etc. used to operate 24 hours a day to keep up with scrap handling, but has cut back to nine to 12 hours with the shear, saving labor costs.

"We are way more efficient," said Filipowicz, adding "you can get way more weight in the railroad car," cutting shipping costs.

While prices for scrap metal have been volatile after a big run-up last summer, buyers rely on a monthly prices from sources such as American Metals Market for market guidance.

Unlike gold, silver, copper, nickel, aluminum and others metals, scrap prices don't change on a daily basis. When scrap sellers show up with items containing copper, brass or nickel, which isn't uncommon, buyers rely on quotes from the London Metals Exchange.

"That's a daily market," said Wahlert. "That price can change two or three times per day."

When folks show up at Steel Etc. or Pacific with a load of scrap, it is weighed and can be roughly sorted. But determining how much to offer is far from an exact science.

"It's a lot of educated guesses," says Wahlert. "On the scrap side of this business, they are horse traders."

Buyers keep a keen eye for copper in scrap loads, and for other metals. Copper prices are at an all-time high.

"We get it from a lot of the plumbing shops and contractors and people like that," Filipowicz said.

Since scrap prices have increased in recent years, interest in selling scrap has clearly increased, local dealers say. But experienced sellers have learned that it's heavier iron scrap that brings the best price, not car bodies or other lighter material.

"We pretty much don't tell them a set price until we get a good look at it," Filipowicz said.

Pacific has purchased two $30,000 handheld "guns" that help workers determine the metal content of scrap. The guns, when pressed against metal, display a detailed breakdown of its content on an Apple Ipod screen.

"If we can identify it, we can certainly pay our customers a higher price and do a better job of knowing what we have," said Bret Ewer, a Pacific recycling manager.

The pricey tools are used mostly on big purchases and can help the company make better bids on demolition jobs. Taking some of the guesswork out of scrap buying is important to the company.

"We have to buy it right so we can sell it right," Wahlert said.

Antonich, the Raynesford resident, said he was aware of the higher scrap prices but market forces didn't play much of a role in his flurry of trips to Steel Etc.

"We are just cleaning up a mess," he said. "Prices have nothing to do with it. It's just for aesthetics."

As for the money he will reap from his scrapped machinery?

"It pays for the diesel to haul it in here," he said.