Caledonia Argus

Caledonia Livestock Exchange closes

Posted: 12/30/03

By David Heiller
Argus News Editor

The Caledonia Livestock Exchange held its last auction on Monday, December 29.

It closed for a variety of reasons, said Jim Jennings, who owned it with Tom Molling.

ìToughest decision I ever made,î is how Jennings described the closure.

The facility needed a lot of improvements, and they were hard to justify financially, Jennings said.

ìThereís less livestock in general throughout the county,î he added. Jennings and Molling sold the building site to Hoyt Zenke of La Crescent last September, and are leasing back the buildings.

Jennings said the decision was partly based on ìeconomics of scale,î in which some farms are getting bigger, and some smaller farms are going out of business. A drive through the countryside reveals a lot of empty farmsteads where there used to be cattle, Jennings noted.

But he was quick to add that he still believes in small towns. ìThatís why Iím here,î he said with a smile while he was standing inside Caledonia True Value Hardware Store, which he and his wife, Pat, purchased this fall.

Some farmers will be inconvenienced by the closing, Jennings knows. They will have to drive farther to sell their cattle in a auction. ìThere isnít going to be a sales barn in this county,î he said.

The closest sales barns will be in Lanesboro, Waukon, or Decorah, each of which is a round trip of about 80 miles.

Jennings will continue to take in slaughter cows, fat cattle, and feeder cattle.

He appreciates all the people he dealt with as owner of the
Caledonia Livestock Exchange.

ìWeíve got some of the best cattle right here in the whole United States,î he said. ìThis county needs cattle. Cattle is a big part of this county.î

Jennings and Molling bought Caledonia Livestock Exchange in 1998 from Helen Mellick, who operated it for many years with her husband, Milton.

Lois Schmitz, who worked in the office at the sales barn for more than 20 years, is sad to see it closing too. She said it will especially hard on farmers who might have one veal calf to sell, because it wonít pay to make a long drive for that.

ìI worked with a bunch of nice, nice people,î Lois said. ìAnd all the farmers. It was really fun when the beef prices were good. Everybody was in a good mood. Got a nice check. That was really good.î

When she first started about 23 years ago, sales were really big. They would start selling at 1 p.m. and end at 10. But it gradually dwindled. ìPeople took a job off the farm and they didnít have cattle,î she said.

ìIím always sad to see a business in the community close,î she said. ìItís been a good thing for the whole community.î

Leo Stoltz, 79, worked at the sales barn since the winter that it opened, which he thinks was 1954. He first worked behind the scale, and since 1969, had been doing the weighing.

He saw a lot of animals during those years. ìSome wild ones,î he said, like the one that went over the ring and through the patronsí door.

Trucks would be lined up to get unloaded clear out to Highway 44, Stoltz said. Things had been good until the last few years.

He agreed with his co-workers that the closure is a sign of the times of a poor farm economy. ìHard to keep everything going,î he said.

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