According to 80-year-old Claude Nolan of Rogers, Ark., the public has him overrated. But according to his close friend, Brentley Wilkerson of Pea Ridge, Ark., Claude is still the best cow-buyer Brentley’s ever seen.
“When Claude sees a cow come into the sale ring, he immediately knows what she will dress for, knows what he will get for her, and knows that she will make money. He has a natural eye for it,” said Brentley.
Claude, a bonded and registered cattle-buyer who was born and raised in Rogers, never misses a sale at the Mo-Ark Livestock Auction in Exeter, Mo.
“He’s here every time we are open,” said clerk Heyley Heupel. “Which is every Saturday except for holidays.”
Claude’s large, old-style cattle truck with an early-model stock trailer attached behind is a symbol of a passing era as it sits graciously in the parking lot among the new dually pickups pulling modern trailers. But Claude, who purchases an average of 15 to 20 head of cattle weekly for Gibbon Packing Company in Gibbon, Neb., is himself a symbol of an era which is slipping away.
A firm believer in the Biblical observation that the borrower is a slave to the lender, Claude has never borrowed money from a bank in his life. Preferring to earn his money up front and pay cash for what he buys, Claude began as a young man saving money by picking strawberries and beans from fields. After graduating from school, he went to work at the local sale barn where he earned $4 a week. He began trading cattle at just 15 years of age, something he has been doing ever since.
During the 60s, 70s, and 80s, Claude developed a reputation as a skilled trader, buying cattle directly from the farms to grow and resell.
Said his friend Brentley, “Claude has made a lot of money over the years, but he has also helped a lot of people out. His concern is for other people, not for himself.”
Claude, a single man who owns 200 acres near Rogers, spent a large part of his life caring for his aging parents until their passing. When asked why he had never married, Claude responded, “I almost got married once, but I found out she was doing me wrong. I had a close call. After that, I never bothered to look for anyone else.”
Claude is not short on friends who think very highly of him and have made him part of their family. On his 80th birthday, he was greeted with a standing ovation and a rousing round of “Happy Birthday” from all of those in attendance as he entered the sale barn.
“I don’t know what all of the fuss is about. A person never knows how long he’ll be here, so I just take one day at a time. There’s a man at this sale barn older than I am, Earl Seaton. He’s 91.”
“They have me overrated”, emphasized Claude.
