The annual Laurel County Cattlemen’s Heifer sale has been conducted each spring for the last six years at the Massey Limousin Farms private sale facility. In preparation for the sale, the Cattlemen would spend several days cleaning and retrofitting the facility to accommodate approximately 100 heifers raised by up to 16 producers. After the sale, the Cattlemen would spend several more days cleaning the facility and repairing damage done by crowded and stressed animals. Wet weather during the time of the sale created muddy conditions, which required the use of the driveway to the Masseys’ private residence to load livestock. In addition to being difficult for large trucks and trailers to navigate, the driveway and grounds were left marred, rutted and muddy.

Following the 2017 sale event, the Cattlemen began searching for an alternate site for the sale. The Wilderness Trail Area Marketing Alliance sale facility was large enough to accommodate the number of animals, was completely under roof and surrounded by graveled parking lot. However, the facility needed a sale ring and an increase in the parking area to handle the 2018 sale. I contacted the Laurel County Agricultural Development Council to see if they would be interested in funding such a project.  The council believed the project would be very beneficial to the county since the facility could also be used to conduct 4-H and FFA livestock demonstrations and other Extension programs. 

A project proposal was submitted to the Laurel County Agricultural Development Council and they agreed to allocate $27,000 of Laurel County’s KADF funds for the project. Matching funds were obtained from the Laurel County Fiscal Court and Laurel County Farm Bureau, and an application was submitted to the Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy. I traveled to Frankfort with the county’s fiscal coordinator to meet with the board, describe the project details, and answer any questions they may have. The application was subsequently approved and construction on the facility expansion soon began.

The 2018 sale day saw cold temperatures and periods of heavy snowfall. The animals were penned in the WTA Marketing Alliance facility, which was designed along the lines of a commercial livestock sale facility with worker and animal safety foremost in mind. The attached sale pavilion was warm and mud free. The heifers flowed through sale ring calmly and with minimal stress.  I have since been contacted by several people asking about the rental of the facility in order to hold special sales, including estate livestock liquidation sales. The Laurel County Cattlemen are now in the process of developing facility rental rules and regulations