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Show I DAVIS COUNTY CLIPPER, MARCH 4, 1977 After the steer is sold, the animal is placed in a holding corral. Animals purchased are usually transported by the new buyers the same day they are sold. At The Livestock Auction... By ROSELYN KIRK The arena fills with silent men. The auctioneer begins his chant. An eyebrow is raised, a finger goes up and the first animal of the day is recorded as sold at the Producers Livestock Auction at North Salt Lake. ON MONDAY morning trucks loaded with cattle Dr. Robert Poulson, assistant state veterinarian and brand inspector, places a tag on cattle which identify them. will later begin to arrive. Farmers and ranchers back the trucks up to the loading shoots where the cattle are forced past the brand inspector and inta the sorting pens. Von Moss, manager of Producers Livestock, says the organization was started about 45 years ago to serve as a marketing agent for livestock. THE COOPERATIVE, which is owned by the stock-meauctioned off 78,000 cattle last year. Hogs are sold Wednesday at 12 noon but the of hog sales is volume minor, Mr. Moss said. Only 10,000 hogs were sold last year at the livestock auction. The Producers Livestock sheep auction, held in Salina, Utah is a branch of the North Salt Lake operation. Mr. Moss took over the management of the operation in 1935. His son Russ is the auctioneer. . RUSS BECAME the auctioneer five years ago after he took a two week course in Montana where he learned the auctioneering process. You have to know the buyers, he said. Russ looks the animal over and begins bidding by hundred weight at a price that he thinks is reasonable. If the price is too high and nobody bids, he drops down. HIS EYES constantly surOne buyer vey the audience. just keeps looking right at me if hes bidding. When he doesnt want to bid anymore, he lowers his eyes. Another buyer, Charlie Peck, bids with his hands down low. Some of the old timers dont want the others to know theyre bidding, Van said. Ive seen two of them sitting side by side. One will put his arm across the shoulders of the other to distract his attention and then bid by raising the finger of his other hand. They sit side by side, but keep their business to themselves. RUSS SAYS some bidders Although cattle and hogs make up the builk of the animal sales at Producers Livestock Auction in North Salt Lake, here two sheep and one goat make their entry into the arena. Animals bid by moving their heaa or by waving a finger. Others stand up. Some sit up in their seats to indicate that they are bidding. Although buyers, who animals for slaughter or for feeders, make up a part of the audience in the arena, the bulk of the crowd are ranchers and farmers who are waiting to have their animals sold. THEY ALL get their money right after the animals are sold. Van said. Six clerks are purchase kept busy in the office recording the sales and making out checks. The whole process begins when the animals head down the shoot after they are unloaded from the trucks. Dr. Robert Poulson, assistant state veterinarian and brand inspector, observes all the animals as they run down the shoot and slaps a number on each animal. HE CHECKS to see if all are branded. If not branded, the owner of the animal must present a bill of sale. Dr. Poulson said one purpose of the tag is to provide identification after the animal is slaughtered. If the cattle are found to have brucellosis or Bangs Disease, the owner of the cattle can be contacted and his whole herd tested for the disease. As the animals head down the shoot they are ticketed by a crew which is charged with this responsibility. They also sort the animals into pens based on size, sex, and color and age Mr. Moss said. THE MAJORITY of the cattle sold are Herefords, he said, but they are losing out to mixed breeds. The black animals are mixed with Herefords and Angus and some crosses between breeds. There are young cows, heifers, old cows, cull cows, fat cattle and bologna n bald-face- d bulls. We dont sell many pure breeds, Mr. Moss said. All are sorted into areas by the workers and run down a shoot to the auction building. There the auctioneer and the clerks sit behind a counter above the penned off circular scale area where the animals enter--usuallone at a time. THE CLERK calls out the pen number. The scales record the weight of the animal. Two men with whips y Photos force tne animal into tne center of the ring where he is looked over by the spectators and buyers who sit opposite the auctioneers platform. Then the bidding begins. As calls out the auctioneer sold," the animal runs off through a door on tne other side of the scales and the process begins again. Eight men are kept busy in the ring during the auctioning process. One clerk writes down the price and descript- ion of each animal and hands to the scale keeper. Seven men assemble the cattle after them for the sale and the new owners to load them. ALL CATTLE are sold either to slaughter houses or as feeders to be fattened and slaughtered later. None of the re-so- rt cattle are kept and fattened at the yards. The people who sit around the circular arena are like spectators in any sport. They concentrate on the action on stage. Both the auctioneer and the animal being sold have center stage. THE SPECTATORS are mostly men, some wear plaid caps, but most are dressed in cowboy hats and boots. Some wear down vests to keep warm as the cold breath of the buyers mingle with the breath of the animals. There are several small boys in the gallery, but few small girls or women. All are silent. There is only the sound of the auctioneers voice and the sound of the whip. PERHAPS some of the silence is due to the fact that cattle prices are terrible. Whether prices go up or dowff this fall will depend on the weather, he said. And who can tell about that. It's a sad deal to see the coWs going for so little. Mr. Moss is at the auction at least two days a week, but spends much of his time buy-incattle in Nevada, Wyom- ing and all parts of Utah These cattle are shipped to the middle west where they are fattended for sale. Sometimes he goes on an order buying deal where he is com missioned to buy for a particular feeder. He deals with stockmen in a three state area. RIGHT NOW its a terrible business, he says. Nobody wants to buy cattle. But, and he grins, a shift in the weather could change all that. rk By Fred Wright are sorted and placed in pens prior to being herded down the shoot into the auctioneer's ring. Auctioneer huss Moss calls for a bid, while the clerk writes down the price and the is description of each aninimal sold. The animal weighed and his weight recorded by the scale-keepe- r. The whole auction pen is a balanced scale as the sign indicates. Buyers at the right are recording sales and bidding |