Location: Squires, Mo.
Owners: Marty and Leigh Ann Crews, and Andy and April Mills
History: Marty and Leigh Ann Crews, and Andy and April Mills took over Douglas County Livestock in August 2022. The McGill and Shannon families previously owned the facility for nearly 20 years. Under the Crews-Mills ownership, the livestock market become Central Ozarks Stockyards.
Services: With the ownership change came a new sale day.
“Strategically, the average cattle farmer in the United States has 42 cows and if you have 42 cows, that’s not your primary source of income; it’s basically supplemental income,” Marty said. “These are the guys who do their farming on the weekends, so having a sale in the middle of the week causes people to take off from work to get their cattle hauled to the barn. We picked Monday because people would have the weekend off to get their cattle to the sale barn and not have to take off from work to do it”
Feed and water pens are available for those producers who opt to bring in their cattle a day or two before the sale. Central Ozarks Stockyards also offers on-farm consultations and trucking for producers of all sizes.
Video sales have been added to the weekly sale at Central Ozarks Stockyards.
“It gives people who have lot loads of cattle in different regions to market their cattle with us,” Marty explained.
Herd reductions or dispersals are held in conjunction with the regular weekly sales. Cattle will also be the only livestock sold at Central Ozarks Stockyards.
“We feel there’s enough of the small animal sales around that specialize in that,” Marty said.
Business Philosophy: Marty and his partners want to provide quality cattle to their buyers. “If I’m a professional in this business and I take advantage of the average farmer who might not be a professional and over sell him something, I feel like I’m stealing from them. As a marketing agent, I want to be the go-between.”
