At the end of the prosperous downtown, where luxury hotels and trendy restaurants are dotted, there are more than 100 years of relics on Oklahoma City's western heritage. It is one of the world's largest stock yards in the world.
But maybe it's not that long.
Oklahoma National Stockyard -Stockyard, the last large city in the United States, is on sale. The $ 27 million price tag contains 100 -acres (40 hectares) prime properties along the Oklahoma River in a growing city of about 700,000 residents. for The highest high -rise building in the country。
Stockyard owners want the buyers to keep coming to the cows, but they acknowledge that land is attractive for redevelopment.
This sale is a sign of the livestock auction and the American cow market, and has been overwhelmed by the number of drought, increased production costs, and the smallest cows in the United States since the 1950s.
President Donald Trump's imposed tariffs on imports has created uncertainty in the industry, but the potential impact is not yet clear. The United States is the world Best of beef producer However, along with Canada and Mexico, he is still a net beef importer. Between the top countries Explains the import of beef.
Jerry Reynolds, President of Stockyard, said that the number of cows that passed through the maze of Oklahoma City's wooden pen has decreased by about 20 % in the past two years.
The same family has owned the premises since 1910, but Reynolds said that the younger generation owners were simply not interested in supervising major stock yards and daily grind: 24 hours a day. 7 days a week, tens of thousands of animals are applied to auctions, and at first glance using an infinite maintenance to do list.
“The cities have grown and surrounded these facilities and have been handwritten for a long time,” said Derel Peel, a professor at Oklahoma State University, who is studying the cow market. “It is not only a major real estate, but the environmental task and environmental task of operating stock yards in major cities are becoming more and more difficult.”
An unusual large city scene
Stockyard participates in the market in October, and the current owner has no schedule to complete sales.
The head of 10,000 cows resounds every week through stock yard, a city survivor in the United States, is currently scattered in the United States. The site of Oklahoma City, one of the largest stocker/feeder cow market, is the last of the so -called “terminal market” scattered in the midwest, where cows are shipped, sold, slaughtered, and then nearby packing houses. It was processed in.
In the mid -20th century, such stockyards flourished in large cities such as Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha, Nebraska, and Fortworth, Texas. However, according to Peel, a professor of agricultural economics, the appearance of frozen and the growing value of these facilities in the center of the city slowly shifted to rural areas close to a fattening plant and meat packing plant. 。
Peel said that if Oklahoma City's stops were closed, the Auction Market in Joprin, the Missouri, would probably claim the largest title in Japan. He said that a stockyard over 200 miles (320 km) from Oklahoma City and another large facility just west of Metro, Oklahoma, will pick up most of the business.
“As a member of the family who has been involved through the whole history of 115 years, including yards, I have obviously have some emotions about the results there,” he said. Chris Bakwin said. A company established by his Great grandfather. “But I have to do the best for shareholders.”
Cowboy and beef auction
The stock yard pen is installed in the original bricks laid more than a century ago. From the metal catwalk running on the stock yard, the visitor can hear the horses and the cowboy's shout on a horse. Award person who talks fast.
In the morning of January of January, the rancher Garison Duke, his wife Pamela, the child Pecos, the 3 -year -old, and 1 year old Stirling carried a trailer full of cows from the Lexington ranch on the outskirts of Oklahoma City. 。
Duke was a boy when he first went to stock yards with his father. And on a good trip, they left the town in the town after the steak dinner and probably after the new boots.
“It's always thrilling, I was able to see all the cows and how they dealt with them, and when they saw them, my father got a big salary at the end of the year. It was good for everyone, “Duke said. “Now we are trying to make the children a part of them.”
“It's our livelihood”
Adjacent to stock yards is a business area full of Western charm. Shorty Hatley, National Saddle Rie, Westernwear Store, popular steakhouse. This area has become a tourist destination for travelers looking for the United States in the center of the United States.
According to the Census Bureau, Oklahoma City's population has increased by 3 % in the past few years and is the largest city in Japan.
And because the value of the land in the city is increasing, the other stock yards in major cities are gone, but mayor Oklahoma City mayor David Holt can coexist in the cities where stock yards are booming. He said he was thinking.
“It's probably not the case, but Oklahoma City is geographically large,” said Holt. “The stockyard is not in Midtown, Manhattan.”
Nevertheless, there are several fears among those who make a living with stock yards that buyers can put another vision in mind.
“There is no doubt,” said Jason Baker, who owns one of the nine committee companies buying and selling cows on stock yards. “It's very important for my family. It's our livelihood.”
