Cleburne County Livestock Auction, Inc.
Owners: Jerry & Jo Holmes
Location: Heber Springs, Ark.
History: Jerry Holmes recently took a few moments to give OFN a rundown of the history of the barn, “My grandparents had been involved in the auction barn since the late ‘40s when Rile & Lessie Holmes along with Gib Kelley ran the barn downtown Heber Springs. In 1973 the barn moved up here on the mountain top where it sits today. I remember helping set the trusses for the original building up here. The auction owners changed hands after my granddad got too old to run it. We finally bought the barn back in 1999. We saw potential to improve the market and have improved it over the last 15 years. We’ve been blessed that both our boys took an interest in the business. Cattle numbers have declined in the last decade, but there are still a good number of people in the cattle business around here and we’ve also been able to reach outside of the county to keep cattle coming in. The cattle business is looking great.”
Products and Services: “Of course we auction cattle. But we’ve been looking to highlight larger groups of cattle and calves. We’re working on getting commitments from producers to sell through the barn so we can get the word out for those groups. We are using our relationships with buyers to help drive the business for our local producers. We’re working to keep business here in Cleburne County.” The barn recently has been talking about some special pre-conditioned calf sales with the Arkansas Cattlemen’s Association and other groups to bring more business into Cleburne County.
Philosophy: “Our family has had a hand in this sale barn for over 50 years. We have a long-standing tradition with producers here in Cleburne County. We’re here to help producers improve their bottom lines and we are looking for new ways to do just that.”
