Decatur Livestock Auction, Inc.
Owners: Chris Buffer and Shawn Sperry
Location: Hwy. 59 S., Decatur, Ark.
Company History: “Shawn and I have been here for three-and-a-half years. When we bought the sale barn it was a pretty small barn, they’d run around 150-200 cattle. When we bought it we added a lot of pens, and now we run anywhere from 750-1,900 cattle a week,” Chris explained.
Products and Services: Decatur Livestock Auction has a sale every Tuesday at noon. “We receive cattle Mondays, and encourage farmers to bring them then. We go visit the farmers and give them an on-farm appraisal. We’ll also help them haul the cattle. We’ve got good, indoor covered feed pins and grass traps for early arrivals. And we try to take really good care of our customers, and try to get cattle sold quickly. We get cattle from Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. We also have a portable corral for our customers to use free of charge.”
How do you stay ahead of competition?
“Being friendly and trying to get the best price for the farmers. We’re just trying to take care of our customers.”
What is your advice for the cattle producer?
“A vaccination program’s really good. The buyers like to have vaccinated calves. That, and of course castrating the bull calves. Other than that, the market’s really good. If I had ‘em I’d be selling them right now,” Chris said.
By OFN Staff
