Article content
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)-on the edge of a prosperous city center spread in luxury hotels and modern restaurants is more than 100 western heritage remains in Oklahoma City: one of the largest livestock in the world.
Article content
Article content
But perhaps not for a longer period.
The Last-CITY Stockard in the United States-is prosecuted for sale. The price of $ 27 million includes 100 acres (40 hectares) of initial property along the Oklahoma River in a growing city of about 700,000 residents, where the Modern American League Square is scheduled to move and the developer pays plans to the longest skyscraper in the country.
Advertisement 2
This announcement has not yet been downloaded, but your article is continuing below.
Article content
Although Stockyard owners hope that the buyer will maintain a cattle, they admit that the land is attractive to re -development.
The sale is a sign of the time of livestock auctions and the livestock market in America, a volatile industry that has been pressured in recent years through drought and high production costs and the lowest number of livestock in the United States since the fifties.
President Donald Trump’s imposition of a tariff on imported goods led to uncertainty in the industry, although the potential impact was not yet clear. The United States is the largest producer of beef in the world, but it is still a clear, pure cow meat, as Canada and Mexico are among the best countries represented by American beef imports.
Jerry Reynolds, President of Stoke Swiki, said that the number of livestock that moves through the maze of wooden pens in Oklahoma City has decreased by 20 % over the past two years.
The same family has the reasons since 1910, but Reynolds said that young generations of owners are not simply interested in overseeing a large store and daily grinding that requires: 24 hours a day, seven days in the practical week with tens of thousands of animals that are sold every week And apparently endless maintenance menu.
Article content
Advertising 3
This announcement has not yet been downloaded, but your article is continuing below.
Article content
“The handwriting has been on the wall for a long time, as cities grow and surround these facilities,” said Derrill Bell, a professor at Oklahoma State University who studies livestock markets. “Not only is a major part of real estate, but the increasing challenges, and environmental challenges, to run a store in a major city, is very difficult.”
A rare scene in the city
Stockyard went on the market in October, and the current owners have no timetable to complete the sale.
Up to 10,000 heads of livestock still roll every week through Stockyard, one of the urban survivors in an industry that is now largely spread throughout the rural America. One of the largest livestock markets in the world, which is the lands of Oklahoma City is the last thing called “terminal markets” that spread in the Middle West, where cattle was shipped, sold and slaughtered and then treated in nearby packing homes.
In the middle of the twentieth century, such stocks flourished in larger cities including Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha, Nebraska, Fort Worth, Texas. But with the emergence of cooling and the increasing value of those characteristics in urban centers, they slowly moved to more rural areas closer to nutrition tools and meat plants, according to Bell, a professor of agricultural economy.
Advertising 4
This announcement has not yet been downloaded, but your article is continuing below.
Article content
Bell said that the auction market in Oklahoma City has been closed, as Bill will demand auction market in Jublin, Missouri, a greater title in the country. He said that this stadium, more than 200 miles (320 km) from Oklahoma City, as well as another large facility west of the metro in El Renault, Oklahoma, will pick up a lot of works.
“As a family member who started the squares and has participated throughout our 115 -year -old history. The company that was founded by his great grandfather,” said Chris Bakwin, Chairman of the Board of Directors and one of the leading shareholders.
Cowboy and livestock auctions
Stockyard pens were created on the original bricks that were placed during its construction more than a century ago. From the metal platform that passes over the descendants, visitors can hear thundering the hooves and formulate cowboy on horseback that leads them to pens or a few at one time to a small square tightly packed where buyers indicate their interest in a quick conversation.
Advertising 5
This announcement has not yet been downloaded, but your article is continuing below.
Article content
On the morning of last January, Jarison Duke, his wife Pamela, their children, Picos, 3, and Sterling, one year -old, transported a trailer filled with livestock from their farm in Lexington, on the outskirts of Oklahoma City.
Duke was a boy when he started going to the store with his father, and on a good trip, they were leaving the city with a full stomach after the meat slices dinner and perhaps a new pair of shoes.
“It was always a excitement, as he saw all the livestock and how they dealt with them all, and their vision sells and my father gets a great salary at the end of the year. It was good for everyone.” “Now we are trying to keep children part of everything.”
“It is our livelihood”
Next to The Stockyard, there is a commercial area full of commercial stores that feature Western magic: Hattery Shorty, patriotism, western clothing stores, and popular meat slices. The region has become a tourist destination for travelers looking for a little American in the heart of the United States.
The population of Oklahoma City has become 3 % over the past few years, according to the Statistical Office, making it the 20 largest cities in the country.
Advertising 6
This announcement has not yet been downloaded, but your article is continuing below.
Article content
While other warehouse areas in the main cities disappear to a large extent due to the increasing value of urban lands, Oclahoma City David Holt said he believed Stoke Stock Stiard could coexist in the center of a prosperous city.
“I am doing, perhaps without another reason, but Oklahoma City is very large geographically,” Holt said. “It is not as if Stockyards are in the center of Manhattan.”
However, there is some fear among those who gain their livelihood in Stockyard that the buyer can have a different vision in mind.
“There is definitely there,” said Jason Baker, who owns one of the nine commission companies that buy and sell livestock at Stockyard. “It is very vital for my family. It is our livelihood.”
Article content