Bringing back the sale barn

By Phil Cobb | September 23, 2021 |

TRINITY COBB/THE FORUM
Maryville Livestock Auction offers a location for farmers near and far to sell their cattle, sheep and goats.

MARYVILLE, Mo. — Through their purchase of the United Producers Sale Barn in mid-July, Tommy Runyan and James Hudgens have brought livestock auctioning back to Maryville.

Runyan, a fourth-generation stockyard operator, is no stranger to livestock. He started selling cattle in 1994 for Swift and Henry Order Buying Company in Kansas City.

When he was 20, he headed south to work for the Oklahoma National Stockyards Company, which boasts the title of World’s Largest Stocker and Feeder Cattle Market, but Runyan maintained his ties to Missouri having grown up in Easton, Missouri.

When he learned about the closure of St. Joseph Stockyards in May, Runyan knew something would have to fill its void. The sale barn in Maryville seemed like the perfect fit.

“It’s a good barn,” Runyan said, adding that it has a capacity for large events.

Runyan said he believes the Maryville community was hurt when the sale barn closed in 2016, and he hopes its reopening will aid the city’s economy.

“The people around here just need a good place to sell their cattle,” he said.

The sale barn, now called Maryville Livestock Auction, is not only for Maryville residents. Runyan predicts people will come from as far as Cameron, Missouri, southern Iowa and Wathena, Kansas.

Auction-goers can expect the same sale barn with a few improvements, along with a café that is now open during livestock sales.

“We’ve got a wonderful kitchen,” Runyan said, adding that a local Mennonite family runs the café and makes homemade ice cream and pie.

A few structural changes also had to be made to the barn. The new owners improved some water and heating elements, and the office was completely renovated. Walls were painted and floors were repaired. High-speed internet also was installed in the facility. Prior to Runyan and Hudgens’ ownership, the sale barn did not possess this capability.

With a bit of fresh paint, homemade food and livestock auction know-how, Runyan and Hudgens have attempted to restore the sale barn back to its former state while bringing it forward in to the new decade.