Changing industry, cityscape brought the end of the stockyards

As we continue our discussion on the history of the Sioux Falls Stockyards, local processing plants, and the folks who made it happen, a common question I get is, “What happened to make it all disappear?”

That is a more than valid ask, and if the reader will journey with me, I’ll do my best to provide a bit of reason for the rapid change in our livestock marketing industry, beginning with the River Markets Group.

This was an organization comprised of terminal markets, the vast majority located along a river. Reason? Because that is where the packing plants were located and the markets, such as Sioux Falls, were a product of those plants.

For those who may not remember, John Morrell opened in 1909, and almost immediately following, several commission owners from the Sioux City Stockyards made the decision to expand to Sioux Falls and build a market. In 1917 the Sioux Falls Stockyards, located directly across the street from the Morrell plant, officially opened. The rest is history.

The River Markets Group met twice each year, always at a different market, resulting in a solid familiarity between the people who were a part of each respective terminal market. One constant in the story of markets closing was the fact that being in a city – Omaha, Kansas City, St Joe, Chicago, Sioux City and lastly Sioux Falls – resulted in unmanageable operational problems.

City traffic, where to go with the product of cleaning pens, the overall environmental concerns of the citizens, the city fathers, and certainly the ever expanding in power, the Environmental Protection Agency, all had an influence. It just happened that Sioux Falls was the last to reach “city” status, thus the last to officially close shop.

In fairness to our city leaders, they did everything in their power to work with us regarding the fact that we operated on city water and sewer, did not have a roof over the facility and although we did our best to blame it on John Morrell, the local citizenry became more concerned and vocal regarding our sometimes unpleasant odor. Hey, it’s difficult to handle 3,000 cattle, 5,000 hogs and 3,000 sheep daily and not have a bit of “money smell.”

Several years before the market closed, a group of owners met over a weekend to discuss the possibility of moving to the country, so to speak, and build a market. For several reasons, one being the age of those in attendance, we never got much further than discussion. However, we had a good time and did a lot of reminiscing, so the weekend gathering was not a total waste.

Soon after that, another couple guys from our market and other markets, did the same thing with a lot more determination and commitment, and the result is located at the junction of Interstate 29 and Highway 18. Sioux Falls Regional Livestock is doing very well, and it is a huge asset to the livestock industry in our region – and you know how much I appreciate the markets in South Dakota.

As the markets in the larger cities began to close, the Sioux Falls Stockyards was continuing to grow, and in 1976, we ranked as the “largest” terminal market in the country. Obviously, one factor would be the decline of the others. However, our receipts were growing and one of the reasons, was the fact that we had begun to market our replacement livestock via the auction method.

What was quietly becoming more influential in marketing was the increase in direct selling by the producers in our region. As the number of smaller operations, such as those feeding 200 or so each year, began to leave the business, the number of larger operations was growing. Why did that matter? To begin with, a family feeding 2,000 cattle per year, although they continued to access the stockyards, really didn’t need to pay us to market for them. Because they sold once or twice per month, they were well very aware of what was happening every day. Also, because of the inventory on hand, they attracted most of the buyers in the region to their yard. Finally, every year, carcass quality became more important to the processor and to the consumer.

I remember when John Morrell quit buying hogs on the market in 1995. Not only did it take us by surprise, many of us were borderline angry because we didn’t understand why.

Darry Pearson, who was at that time the executive director of our Livestock Exchange, our daily market reporter and one of the best hog professionals in the business, explained it. Very simply, there was $50 t0 $75 per head difference in pigs, depending upon quality, and that difference is almost impossible to analyze by simply walking through a pen of 200 head.

If John Morrell intended to remain amongst the top pork processors in the country, which they were, they had no choice. I should add, many of the producers favored the carcass quality method of sale, and for good reason.

I would stress that none of my analysis is intended to castigate the region’s feeders. Many, many continued to support our market until the end, and we owe them a huge thank you for that and for the years and years they were there as customers and friends. One thing for certain, nothing can take away the wonderful memories.

As always, be safe in your labors and thanks for keeping us fed.