More stockyards packing it in

[Liberal_in_LA]

Source: USA Today

Woster, now retired, was among the many stockyard workers, farmers and ranchers, their children and grandchildren who made final trips this month across the catwalk. This week marked the last cattle sale at the stockyard, ending an era in which the Sioux Falls Stockyards was the focal point for livestock in this region.

Sioux Falls joins a trend at some of the country's large stockyards that have ended cattle sales in recent years. Others, in places such as Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha and Sioux City, Iowa, have faded into history. The growth of suburbs around stockyards and the new ways of marketing cattle have worked to push some big-city stockyards off the landscape, said Dan McCarty, manager of livestock services with the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

Video auctions ushered in

"Instead of people loading up their cattle and taking them to the stockyards, we've seen a big shift in the last few years to video sales," McCarty said. "Big firms will actually videotape your cattle, and about once a month or twice a month, they'll have big video auctions."

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"It became more and more difficult to run an agriculture operation in the middle of an urban area," she said.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-06-25-stockyards_N.htm?csp=24&RM_Exclude=Juno

[limit18]

1. Right you are

What started out as an unconventional idea on the part of two livestock marketing veterans turned into the largest cattle auction in the United States.
http://www.rfdtv.com/shows/superior.asp

[OmahaBlueDog]

2. I'm not surprised about Sioux Falls. There is really only one nearby buyer for cattle

Yes...there is Dakota Beef, but IBP is really king of the cattle market until you get down to Omaha. Being across from the Morrell plant, they should still have a solid hog market for years to come. Swift in Worthington, Morrell's other plant in Sioux City, Premium Iowa Pork in Hospers, and SiouxPreme in Sioux Center -- there are still many nearby hog buyers.