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Arcadia
Stockyard
By:
Sharie Derrickson
In one hour, the Arcadia
Stockyard can auction off 225 head of cattle. It is a smooth
operating machine that is considered by some to be the
finest stockyard this side of the Mississippi, if not the
country. The secret to its success?—know-how and years of
watching how they run and how it could be done better, Carl
McKettrick, one of the owners of the stock yard said.
For years, Carl McKettrick, an
easy-mannered man with a good sense of humor and hearty
laugh, bought and sold cattle and watched how stockyards
ran, all the while making mental notes on how it could be
done more efficiently. Several years ago, the old stockyard
in Arcadia was condemned, leaving open an opportunity for a
new business, and also a business that he knew the community
needed. “We started construction January 2005. I was a buyer
for about 25 years and saw a need for a sale barn,” he said.
On a hot Wednesday afternoon, he
is making sure all things are prepared for the auction that
will start in less than several hours—like a ring-leader of
a carefully orchestrated circus. Soon, dozens of trucks will
show up to bring in cattle for that day’s auction. The crew
must be prepared to do as many as 1600 cattle this day, and
he knows in order to do that, all things must go smoothly.
And, it does. It goes so smoothly that it is hard to fathom
how many cattle can be organized, sold, and delivered to the
right area for pickup. This is where good old common sense
and some ingenuity work together.
“We are the newest and the most
state-of-the-art auction house in the state of Florida,” he
said. McKettrick said it is the layout that is instrumental
in the effectiveness of the business. “When I laid it out, I
can get to every pen from the back side to that I don’t have
to hold a sale up,” he said. “It works in a constant flow
and we are very easy on the cattle. We have a misting system
in the barn to keep the cattle cool—we have fans to help,”
he said. “And, to unload the cattle, the trucks drive
through instead of having to back up,” he said.
The operation, located off U.S.
Highway 17 between Arcadia and Zolfo Springs, is jointly
owned by Carl and his wife, Libby, and Joe and Chelsea
Hilliard. Twice a week, cattle are herded in with precision
and auctioned off at incomparable speeds. Cattle are then
sent through the state-of-the art action pen, auctioned, and
then herded out the other side and put in a pen with the
others from the same buyer. “We can sell cattle so much
faster than many other places,” he said adding that it is
not uncommon for the stockyard to auction off 1,600 cattle
in as little as seven hours.
When the cow has a buyer, the
ticket for the sale is sent through a vacuum shoot to the
front office where that information is held on a computer so
that at anytime, a buyer can go into the office and see an
inventory of what he or she has purchased so far.
Auctioneer Tommy Stewart
testified that the Arcadia Stockyard is quite the venture.
“This is the nicest stockyard in the country—I know so,” the
veteran auctioneer said. “I don’t know of any nicer,” he
said. “It is laid out so well and it is convenient, and
everything runs so smooth,” he said. “It’s like water
running down hill—it flows,” he said. “I love what I do and
I love doing it here,” he said, as he checks the computer
for the most recent cattle futures numbers. He said that his
job is to make as much money for the sellers as he can at a
fair market value.
McKettrick makes his money from
commission from the sales. Cattle prices have increasingly
dropped over the last several years, but despite this,
McKettrick said that his business is profitable.
The auction house is not without
that personal touch. Before and during the auction, buyers
and sellers can enjoy a country meal from the restaurant
that even has plates of homemade food brought to them during
the auction. It is not only state-of-the-art—it is homey as
well where the clientele gather to tell stories and catch up
with one another’s lives. It is as much a gathering of
friends as it is businessmen. Billy Diez, a buyer, said that
the professional manner and efficiency on how business is
conducted is only complemented by the people behind it all.
“The folks who run this place are just so honest and nice.”
In a world of fast sales and
where the bottom dollar increasingly speaks volumes, it
might be the trust in the people behind the business that is
the most important factor of all.
Sharie Derrickson is a freelance photojournalist who
lives in Port Charlotte Florida, but who loves writing about
and photographing Florida’s Heartland—its people and its
businesses. You can contact her at 941-624-5487 or email at
sharie@the-write-resource.com
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