A Day at the Auction

Central Oregon Livestock Auction

It’s a Wednesday morning, and the patrons are starting to file into the lunch room at Central Oregon Livestock Auction. The small restaurant serves up coffee and treats, and there’s an amicable kind of atmosphere among the attendants as they wait for the first auction session.

Sitting at one of the tables is Clay Tanler, Co-owner and friend to all who come to the auction. Behind him is a backdrop of cattle brands, burned into the pinewood tiles on the wall, and collected over the years. Ranchers and livestock owners from all over the state are here, and one can almost feel the tension and anticipation pass through the air, as they wait for the auction to begin.

Outside, cattle are gathered and organized for the auction. The parking lot is filled with cattle trucks and trailers. It’s a picture very familiar to many of the patrons that attend here every week for auction.

One such participant is John Riley, a third generation rancher who works and owns a steer ranch with his father. The Riley ranch runs about 750-800 head of cattle, and they come most weeks to the Central Oregon Livestock Auction looking for bargains. They rely on cattle ranching for their livelihood, as do many of the participants in the weekly auction. The economic downturn has hurt not only the housing market, but has had a domino affect on agriculture, as well.

“Input costs in items such as fuel and feed has hurt a lot of ranchers and farmers, and in turn the sale of cattle has gone down. Last year, cattle were at least ten cents a pound less than the year before”, said Riley. “With expenses higher, and sales down, the profit was a lot tighter this last year”.

This story is echoed by many of the ranchers on this chilly Wednesday morning at the auction sales. It has been a difficult year, and small and large cattle ranches alike have felt the downturn.

Mehrten Homer, President of Painted Hills Natural Beef, Inc., of Fossil Oregon, has a large scale cattle operation that keeps cattle in their program until they are ready to process. They then process at Simplot and Tyson, and pay a premium for hanging weight, and the more select cuts. He has seen brand marketing raise a great deal of money for the cattle industry. With the economy, Homer hasn’t seen the beef consumption affected as much, except in the lower cost cuts. In fact, he has seen the more premium cuts actually pick up. He also saw a unique trend this last year in the grilling and barbeque season.

“Usually, people start grilling in May, and this year it didn’t really start picking up until July. Then, it seemed people were grilling right up until November, which is really unusual”, recalled Homer. “I think people were scared about the economy until July, then decided they would let go of their money. Our restaurant trade has remained pretty constant. For us, the business in our trade is as good as it’s ever been”.

Central Oregon Livestock Auction
A Local Legacy

Central Oregon Livestock Auction is Central Oregon’s premier marketing facility. They offer weekly cattle auctions every Wednesday, starting with butcher animals at 10:00am. Small animals are only sold on non-feeder or non-special sale days and sell approximately at noon. Just after noon, bred cows and pairs are sold, followed by feeder cattle. Several equipment and farm sale auctions are conducted by C.O.L.A. throughout the year, along with many special cattle auctions.

The Central Oregon Livestock Auction business was originally built in 1964 by Glen Simmerlink and Paul Schoen. The two came from Kansas, and built the original yard on the west side of the road from the current BiMart. The yard was later located at its current location. Between 1984-1987, Clay Tanler managed the business, and in 1987 he purchased the yard with John and Sheldon Arnett. Tanler bought out the other two owners in 1996, and became the sole owner. In 2000, Trent Stewart became a partner in the business with Tanler, and is one of the primary auctioneers. His other main contribution to the business is marketing the cattle.

“This is a livestock marketing facility. We sell cattle and we merchandise them at auction through public outcry. Whoever has their hand in there last, wins the bid and the cattle. When the gavel drops, we have a contract with them at that price per pound. We weigh the cattle, we pay the seller, and the buyer pays us. We handle the financial end of things, as well as the merchandising of the cattle. Discovering price through competition is our biggest job”, said Stewart.

This year, Tanler and Stewart built a cattlemen’s supply next to the main building, on the south side of the property. The business serves as retail for cattle supplies in a convenient location in proximity to the Central Oregon Livestock Facility.

Concerning the effect of the current economy, Stewart said “In mother nature, weather is always the biggest wild card. There are years when it’s good to us, and years when it’s not so good. This year, the California rains were beneficial for us. We are also a world and national market now. We send cattle all over, and weather can affect input prices and consequently, price per pound. The other half of the equation is total global demand for beef. As a global market, we have to stabilize the economy. Those who consume middle cuts of beef have been most affected by the economy, and those cuts have just not been in demand. Hamburger and higher select cuts have moved well, however. Lately, there is a rally in the funds buying in the Chicago Exchange in the livestock market because it’s more tangible”

Before leaving for a full morning of auctioneering, Stewart leaves us with some real nuggets of wisdom, not to be taken lightly.

“Take care of industry right here at home, it’s very important. Remember, industry comes first, and it’s how we created this great nation. Everything that’s real comes from the ground, and we need to get back to that. We need to take care of our cattle producers and our renewable resources that we are blessed with in the Northwest. And, of course, sell your cattle at auction!”

Contact Information:

Central Oregon Livestock Auction
(541)475-3851
P.O. Box 29/3457 S.W. Hwy 97
Madras, OR 97741

Owners: Clay Tanler (541)419-6060
& Trent Stewart (541)325-3662

Livestock Field Rep: Eric Duarte
(541)533-2105 or (541)891-7863

ROUND BUTTE SEED

Weathering the Storm

A worn, but proud American flag flies overhead, as Britt Spaulding stands facing the west side of the feed plant at Round Butte Seed Company. The General Manager of the company muses over the history of this local-grown business that began in 1961, with five farming families in Culver, Oregon.

Spaulding points to the seed plant on the west side. “This is the original seed plant that was built in 1950, which is where the Culver Seed Company was started. Round Butte Seed originally bought out Culver Seed Company in 1961, and three of the original families were later bought out, with 21 remaining shareholders still in the company.”

As photos are slowly brought out, Spaulding recounts the story and background of each one. The history and resiliency of Round Butte Seed begins to unfold.

Second Generation Farming Families and the History of the Company

The Round Butte Seed Company has a rich history, born out of the need for a facility to process seed in the community. The original seed plant, Culver Seed Company, processed clover seed.

The remaining families that are still shareholders (except for Britt Spaulding) are second generation farm families. Ed and Richard Macy are still farming the Macy farm, and Jim Carlson is still active on the Carlson Farm. These families have seen the ups and downs of the agriculture market over time, and have ridden out the economic storm from the current market.

Britt Spaulding came into the business as a result of being in the farming supply business in John Day. Round Butte Seed was a supplier to his business at that time. Spaulding and his family moved to John Day specifically for the farming supply business. When his enterprise began struggling, he got an offer for a position in Culver from Round Butte Seed. He and his family made the move, and he has been with the company ever since.

The business expanded into Bend in December of 1998. Round Butte Seed opened the Prineville store in 2004. It was moved into a new location in Prineville a couple of years ago, making it the third store for the business. The Prineville and Bend stores are retail businesses, which provide agricultural products. The plant in Culver provides pesticides, weed and insect control products, fertilizers and seeds.

Hay and wheat crops use the most agriculture product from Round Butte Seed of any of the crops in Central Oregon.

Trends in the Market

In 1986, when Britt Spaulding first came into the company, most of the big cash crops in Crook and Jefferson Counties were Peppermint. Eventually, prices went down, and wilt and disease also adversely affected the crops. Some peppermint crops have been maintained in the area, mostly for tea leaves.

The economy has driven much of the market for agricultural crops. The hay market is depressed due to the economy. Hay has been a hard sell because of prices being down. About two years ago, gas and fertilizers got very expensive at the same time. These were also driven by the economic climate, and grass seed and dairy were also victimized by the economy.

One trend that was significant and one that drove the market for Round Butte Seed for some time, was Farms that were split into 5-80 acre parcels. For many of these, this was not their primary source of income. Round Butte Seed wanted to take advantage of that market in Bend. They thought this market would not be adversely affected by the economy of the farming market. They found this to be only partially true. Many were affected by real estate, and things that were related or affected by that economy, such as horses. When the economy turned down, many sold their horses, thus the demand for hay fell sharply. The unexpected affect of the housing market downturn has caught many businesses by surprise.

“Agriculture in general has been all right for us”, said Spaulding. “Hay has been way down. When gas prices went up, fertilizer prices went up simultaneously, making the input cost for farmers go up a great deal. Farmers are optimistic in spring, pessimistic in winter. There is a lot of uncertainty for farmers because of the economy”.

Surviving the Storm

So what has helped this company to survive this economic climate?

First, the company has diversified by having multiple locations. They have also been diverse by having retail stores, as well as the main seed plant. Round Butte Seed has also changed and added to some of the merchandise they carry in their retail stores, especially in Prineville. The stores are making an effort to be cost-conscious, and have even redone their layouts and merchandise in some cases, to better meet the current market.

Round Butte Seed has about 75 employees. Although they have fewer employees than they did six months ago, there have been very few lay-offs, and very few permanent reductions.

“I think the economy right now is stuck on a national level. I believe, however, that the agriculture industry is better than average in this current economy and will rebound more quickly”, recounts Spaulding. “The housing market may affect the grass seed market for a longer period of time, but other parts of agriculture should come back strong. Cattle have not been very good in the past year or so, but are starting to rebound.”

It’s this kind of optimism that has seen this local company through the tough economic storm that the country has weathered recently, and in the past years. Round Butte Seed has shown its ability to be diverse, resilient and innovative through the good times and the bad. Truly, a lesson we can all learn from.