BARRON, Wis. (WJMC) — The last sale was held at the Barron Market Sales Barn on Wednesday.
Equity Co-op Executive Vice President of Marketing and COO Mark Clark said a 10-year drop in demand in the local dairy industry unfortunately led to the decision to end market sales in Barron. But Equity Co-op is still here and bringing stock to other markets.
“Everybody needs to be aware that we’re just closing the auction division down at this facility. We’re going to keep our trucking division up and running. We have three trucks and trailers that hug Porter out of this Barron facility and provide a lot of trucking for producers up here,” Clarke said. “We want to grow that division actually, so we’re going to fully offer trucking services to our Altoona market and to our Stratford market and even our Sparta market.”
Market reports from Barron are ending, but Altoona, Sparta and other statewide reports will continue.
The sales barn has been in Barron since the 1970s and Equity Co-op has operated it since the 90s.
“It’s bittersweet. Unfortunately, sometimes all good things have to come to an end. I was sitting here this morning and a lot of the good old boys came in — they were sitting down having a cup of coffee and just listening to the stories that some of these guys were telling back in the day and stuff that was going on. ‘I remember in 1972, I brought this animal…’ Those are awesome stories,” Clarke said. “You just love to have that history, but unfortunately the ag industry is changing, the dairy industry is changing, the beef industry is changing.”
For more information on reports and market transportation, visit EquityCoop.com.