True to its roots, Wheeler Livestock Auction at Osceola, Missouri, remains a family-owned and operated business where bidders can be confident in buying farm-fresh cattle and sellers know the whole sale barn team is working to get them the best price for their animals.
“We have lots of customers who have been with us from the start and we’re gaining new customers every day,” says co-owner and auctioneer Byron Wheeler, who has sold cattle at the barn from the time his parents, Burleigh and Doris Wheeler, established the business in 1989.
Byron, his wife Angela, his sister Karla, and her husband Tom Waters, have owned the sale barn since 2018.
“It is a true family-owned operation, and always has been. We just do fair, honest business,” says Byron.
Byron and Angela both grew up on beef farms in St. Clair County, Missouri, where the sale barn is located. Karla and Tom operate a successful family row crop operation in Orrick, Missouri.
Burleigh still pitches in as a field representative, as does auctioneer Col. Les Tennis, who has been with the business nearly since the start. A nephew, Weston Shelby, serves as office manager. A group of seasoned employees rounds out the team, including Jane Hearting, who has clerked at the barn since 1990, and field representatives Kevin Wade and Darwin Hearting.
The entire Wheeler team’s decades-long knowledge of livestock, business-management experience and customer-service focus benefits buyers and sellers who come to the modern auction facilities just off Missouri Hwy. 13. The business also provides hauling services and is always glad to help customers with their transportation needs.
The roads to Wheeler Livestock Auction run both ways, says Byron.
“I’m glad to make farm visits. I drive thousands of miles looking at cattle and I’m glad to do it.”
Continually improving to serve customers
Keeping Wheeler Livestock Auction in the family doesn’t mean things haven’t changed. Far from it. Not only has the number of cattle moving through the auction doubled in the past five years, the owners continue to make improvements to better serve buyers and sellers.
“We’re always improving pens, water sources, etc. to take care of the cows. We have rebuilt a lot of the outside feed pens and put up lots of shade to accommodate the drought,” says Byron. “I try to take care of everybody’s cattle just like they are my own.”
Wheeler Livestock Auction has space for 1,500 head of cattle prior to a sale.
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“We use that capacity quite often, especially in the fall,” says Byron.
The barn draws cattle from a 120-mile radius, but buyers come from a 700-800-mile circle around St. Clair County. Easy unloading and loading facilities make the barn popular with buyers and sellers.
Technology has continued to improve since the days of hand-writing everything on paper. With computerized record-keeping and online broadcasts of live auctions available through CattleUSA.COM, buyers and sellers can be assured of having the latest tech tools at their disposal.
The barn runs a feeder and slaughter cattle sale every Thursday at 11 a.m. and a special stock cow sale at 6 p.m. the last Saturday of each month. A special bull sale is held each March, and bred heifer sales are held in July and January.
The special sales are “popular events,” says Byron. “They’ve been really good.”
The weekly feeder and slaughter auction provides strong bidding and competition with seven or eight slaughter buyers attending each week.
“The only way to do price discovery is the auction method,” says Byron, who attended Ft. Smith Auction School when he was 16 and calls most of the sales at the barn.
“I love to sell cattle,” he says. “It’s a challenge to see what you can get for them.”
Wheeler Livestock Auction works on a commission basis, unlike other sale barns that may charge a flat fee per head.
“That means we’re always working to get buyers the best price. The more they make, the more we make,” he says.
Good times ahead for producers
The outlook is positive for beef producers, says Byron.
“I truly believe the beef prices are on the rise and will continue. Cow numbers are going to be short. It is a great time for the cow-calf operation. I think it’s going to get really good.”
Many changes have taken place since Wheeler Livestock Auction was founded, but something that won’t change is this family business’s dedication to its customers and community. Count on Wheeler Livestock Auction to keep delivering the same personal, friendly service that customers far and wide have come to expect since 1989.
--Emery Styron