Goodbye to historic St. Joseph Stockyards
Here are scenes from the last beef cattle auction as the sale barn closes after 134 years.
ROUND ‘EM UP: Horses are used in the pen area at the St. Joseph Stockyards to round up a set of calves for the final cattle auction May 19 in St. Joseph, Mo.
HORSEPOWER: A group of riders sort cattle for the sale on horseback. The St. Joseph Stockyards uses this method that is less stressful for the animals. At the end of the alleyway in the background is the Livestock Exchange Building, which once was a hub for marketing livestock in the Midwest.
TRAVELING CATTLE: Steers come from across northwest Missouri and northeast Kansas to the St. Joseph Stockyards. They are moved through the pens and up the alley to the sale arena inside.
TIME TO PUSH: Some cattle need to be coaxed a little by the horse and rider to move into the holding area before entering the sale barn. Riders use both the horse and their voice to prod young steers along.
MARKETING POWERHOUSE: The St. Joseph Stockyards was a member of the Livestock Marketing Association. At one time, the stockyard was the eighth-largest cattle market in the country.
AUCTION BARN: Livestock sale barns have many looks across the country. The St. Joseph Stockyards has a metal façade with cinema-like seating inside — except without cupholders.
STEP UP: There are two entry points to the St. Joseph Stockyards auction barn. One leads visitors up the metal stairs. At the top, people can look out over the holding area. The other is on the main floor where buyers and sellers can grab a bite to eat before heading up the concrete stairs to the sale arena.
CLOSE QUARTERS: Looking down from the top of the sale arena, there is just enough room for buyers, sellers and livestock. Many sale barns offer close quarters where casual conversations turn into lifelong friendships.
BIG CROWD: It was standing room only at the last sale of the St. Joseph Stockyards in May. People came to buy and sell cattle, but also to be a part of the historic closing of this iconic livestock market in northwest Missouri. People reminisced on earlier times at the auction. Generations were introduced to the old-timers who returned for one last auction experience.
WORKING THE RING: St. Joseph Stockyards owner Mark Servaes was either working the ring or walking the aisles on sale day. Friend and auctioneer Greg Clement shares that before Mark bought the barn in 2012, “If you wanted to talk to the manager of the stockyard, you made an appointment. You went down to Exchange building, you went in their office where there was a great big desk. If you want to talk to Mark Servaes, he is always going down the alleys right there. He's going to be out there working, you know, side by side with these guys. He has been a great guy to work for.”
FOCUS ON CATTLE: A young calf peeks through the old, wooden fence in the St. Joseph Stockyards. On this day, more than 2,500 head of cattle — bulls, cows, heifers and steers — went through the sale barn. It is the last time cattle will move through this auction site that sits between the river and railroad in western Missouri.
BID CALLER: Greg Clement was just one auctioneer welcomed back to the St. Joseph Stockyards for one last chant. To celebrate the end of this livestock market in the area, a number of auctioneers returned to where many got their first start in the bid-calling business.
HEADING HOME: Young calves leave the auction ring and head to the holding pens in the back. The auctioneer calls out a number, and the calves are sorted by handlers into those pens. The number represents a buyer and the final destination for these calves.
HOLDING PENS: Cattle move throughout the stockyards from one set of initial sorting pens when they are brought into the stockyard to the holding pens after they are sold. In both areas, horses are used to guide the animals into the right pen.
WAITING GAME: A riders sits on a horse high above the rusted gates at the St. Joseph Stockyards. Cattle are driven down the alley toward his location, where he takes them from there and moves them into the right pen based on the buyer’s number. Whether sun or rain, he is there to keep the cattle calm.
BETWEEN THE BARS: This black calf is calm and content as it peers through the metal bars in the holding area. There were a lot of black cattle moving through the stockyard’s final sale May 19, and most were docile during the process.
SORTED OUT: When cattle are unloaded at the stockyards, they are placed in pens. They are moved through the system until they are ready to enter the sale arena.
TEAMWORK: Whether pushing on horseback or walking alongside, those who work the St. Joseph Stockyards are committed to putting the needs of cattle first. They work together to get the animals down the alley and into the sale arena.
BORN LEADER: Apparently, this young red calf is ready to lead the group to the sale arena. The St. Joseph Stockyards have been a place where livestock from much of northwest Missouri and northeast Kansas pass through whether to another farm or to the slaughterhouse. Now, livestock sellers will need to find another auction to drop off cattle. Owner Mark Servaes says there are sale barns within 100 miles of the stockyards.
NEW OWNER: The stockyards have 30 days to remove equipment from the location in downtown St. Joseph. The new owners take over the valuable land that sits across the street from meat plants along the Missouri River.
HISTORIC VIEW: The Livestock Exchange Building at one time was the gathering place for all buyers, sellers and processors of meat. Companies had offices in this four-story building that overlooked the stockyards. The more than 120-year-old building is still standing but is falling into disrepair. There are no tenants. It’s abandoned. Soon the stockyards will be empty as well.
AGRICULTURE HUB: The Livestock Exchange Building was built in 1899 for the St. Joseph Stockyards Co. It was once considered the “crown jewel” of the complex, which included 400 acres and was filled with stockyards and packinghouses. Early tenants of the four-story building, according to the St. Joseph City Directory of 1910, included railroad companies such as the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway Co., U.S. Bureau of Animal Industry, Stock Exchange Cigar Stand, Byer Brothers & Co. Livestock Commission, Morris & Co., Swift & CO, and even a barbershop. Today, it has been tagged by graffiti with windows broken out, still it stands.
ONE LAST TIME: Young calves move down the alleyway of the St. Joseph Stockyards one final time.
KEEPSAKE: A T-shirt commemorates the last drive at the St. Joseph Stockyards on May 19. They were sold the day of the auction.
GOODBYE: Horse riders understand the momentous occasion of the stockyard closing. As they ride back down the alley, they give a wave and thank patrons for showing up for the final sale at the St. Joseph Stockyards.
NEW SIGNS? With the closing of the stockyards along the Missouri River, it makes one pause and think, will they change all the highway signs along the interstate? These markers showed just how much the stockyards influenced this area of northwest Missouri.
NEW SIGNS? With the closing of the stockyards along the Missouri River, it makes one pause and think, will they change all the highway signs along the interstate? These markers showed just how much the stockyards influenced this area of northwest Missouri.
Rusted metal gates. Holes in wooden fences. Concrete cracking. Mark Servaes knew changes to the iconic St. Joseph Stockyards were on the horizon, but an aggressive buyer for the land situated between the river and railroad in northwest Missouri led him down a different alleyway — one that ended in the closing of the 134-year-old livestock sale barn.
“I never did want to sell it,” the Atchison, Kan., native says of the stockyards located in downtown St. Joseph, Mo. “I kept putting them off and just had a very aggressive buyer.”
Servaes says with the regulations inside the city, it was only a matter of time before updates were needed. “I probably could have made another two or three years,” he notes, “but it just made sense to finally [sell] two or three years earlier than I wanted to.”
The St. Joseph Stockyards opened in December 1887. At that time, it sat on 413 acres. It became a booming livestock market where upward of 500,000 animals were auctioned off annually in the early 1920s. By 1953, the sale barn garnered the eighth-largest cattle market in the country.
Over the years, this stockyard has seen many owners. Servaes purchased the facility in 2012. He shares his journey into the stockyard business.
Farm Progress · Mark Servaes on St. Joseph Stockyards closing
One person who has been at the St. Joseph Stockyards a little longer than Servaes is Greg Clement. Known as the voice of the St. Joseph Stockyards, he started as an auctioneer in 1984.
“I've literally been doing the markets for St. Joe on the radio for 33 years,” he explains. And at one time, he served as the liaison between the stockyards and the public. “I've been here long enough, you know, 37 years, I guess that I pretty well know what's going on.”
Clement shares about the early days of bid calling in northwest Missouri.
Farm Progress · Greg Clement on St. Joseph Stockyards
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