University Daily Kansan / Friday, December 8, 1989
5A
Farmers from the Kansas City area come to the Lawrence Livestock Company to buy and sell livestock.
SOLD!
Verlin Green yells out the price for eager buyers.
At the end of East 11th street in Lawrence sits a white frame building with a stable area full of hay. The driveway leading to the structure is unpaved and full of bumps.
The building appears to be abandoned, but come Saturday the white frame structure is transformed into a rip-roaring live cattle auction.
The Lawrence Livestock Sale Company, 900 E. 11th Street, is open for business every Saturday. Larry Gallagher has owned and operated the livestock sale company with his wife for $1/2 years. Farmers from the Kansas City area come to Lawrence to buy and sell cattle. The sale includes pigs, cows and calves. Cows are sold for $400 to $700, depending on the age of the animal. Younger cows are brought back to farms and raised; older ones are slaughtered.
Verlin Green has been the auctioneer at the Lawrence Livestock Company for the past eight years, and farmers say he is one of the best. Each week the wood benches are filled with farmers waiting to hear Green call out the right price. Many children accompany parents and grandparents at the auction. James Kaighin of Tonga-onix brings his grandaughter, Missy, 5, to the sale every Saturday. Jean Pribbernow of Haveryville comes every week with at least one of her nine grandchildren.
About 3 p.m., when all the cattle have been auctioned off, the arena clears. The snack counter becomes the crowded spot with hungry workers, sellers and buyers. Trailers are loaded up with cattle and the white frame building once again becomes abandoned. The gravel parking lot waits for next Saturday when it will once again hold the crowd, who hear the cattle call and come to make their deals.
The benches at the Lawrence Livestock Sale Company are filled every Saturday for the live auction.
ABOVE: Dustin Mosler, left, 10, and his brother, Daniel, 6, shoot enemy cows. The boys came to the auction with their father. RIGHT: The cashier's window is the last stop of the day; sellers collect their money and buyers pay for the livestock they purchased during the auction.
Story and photos by Stacey Gore
Frankie Robinson of Topeka takes a break after working.