Two well-known West Coast livestock auction yards announced this week they will permanently move to online-only sales.
The Shasta Livestock Auction Yard in Cottonwood, Calif., and the Woodburn Livestock Exchange in Woodburn, Ore., will cease in-person auctions at their facilities after wrapping up final sales this month.
Shasta Livestock general manager Brad Peek told the Redding Record Searchlight that auction yard sales will be shutting down after the scheduled Feb. 12 sale. He told the newspaper the 55-year-old business plans to focus on video marketing and the country cattle trade, which is direct trading off ranches.
The business' Western Video Market holds about a dozen online auctions a year, including a replacement heifer auction at the Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale.
The Woodburn exchange will stop with livestock auctions after its sheep, goat and hog auction on Feb. 15 and its cattle and poultry auction Feb. 23, owners Tom and Mary Elder said on their website.
The Woodburn Auction Yard will remain in business doing online-only machinery sales.
"In recent months there have been various rumors of us selling the property and shutting down," they wrote. "The property is for sale, but it is not sold at this time. However, due to the continual declining head counts and rising cost of doing business, the livestock portion of our business is no longer viable."