Butler Sale Barn and El Dorado Livestock Market
Owner: Dale Steinhoff
Location: El Dorado Springs and Butler, Mo.
History: “Before I left the Navy in 1975, after serving on a nuclear submarine for four years, I’d already bought my first sale barn in Nebraska. I met a lot of nice mermaids back then,” he laughed recently while standing in his sale barn, located just outside El Dorado Springs, Mo. “After 31 years running the Southeast Nebraska Livestock Market, I came down to Missouri and opened the Butler Sale Barn, which I still run. My youngest son, Brad has the one in Nebraska. I’ve always done this. They say, if you like what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. That would be me.”
He added with a thoughtful grin. “I’ve been auctioneering since I was in junior high. I started out selling at bake sales.
“We basically have a community sale every week, selling anything from livestock, like heifers, calves and goats to chickens, ducks, rabbits, fence posts, and hay – we sell everything, if it’s legal. We also sell exotics, from time to time. I’ve sold camels, zebras and snakes. I sold an alligator a year or so ago. The exotics sell to drive-through type parks throughout the Ozarks.”
Changes in the Industry: “I see a lot less hogs and a lot more goats these days. Goats used to be a joke when I first started but now they are an important part of the business. In Nebraska, the sheep are wool sheep but here in Missouri, it’s a lot more hair sheep.
“They say feed cattle for glory and sheep for profit. Used to be that sheep sold for $1 a head and wool for $1 a pound. Now it’s $6 a head and 50 cents a pound, so wool is not as profitable as it used to be. The Navy was once the number one buyer of wool for their cold weather gear but not as much now.”
