Change is afoot
Mar. 3—When veterinarians Steven Matthews and Melissa Matthews took over the livestock auction yard in Shelby in September 2015, it had been closed for four years.
Just five years later, the Cleveland County Agriculture and Livestock Exchange grew to a market where 500-550 head a week are sold through the auction barn.
It's a track record that impressed the board members of the WNC Communities who selected a proposal by the Matthews to operate the WNC Livestock Center in Canton.
The Canton facility sells an average of 237 head a week, a number Steven Matthews believes he can increase to between 500-600 a week over time.
He said holding small animal sales for goats and sheep, along with adding specialty sales for preconditioned calves, bulls and maybe even some production sales will draw in many who are unfamiliar with the Canton facility.
From there, it will be a matter of showing the agriculture community the advantages of doing business in Canton.
"We'll be shaking a lot of hands, providing good service, saying thank you and treating everybody the same," he said. "There's a lot we'd like to do to get more people there."
The decision
Matthews was introduced to the livestock community Monday during the regular livestock sale. L.T. Ward, vice president of WNC Communities, provided background on the six-week search for a new operator via Zoom. He focused on the outreach efforts to ask producers what they wanted to see in a new operator, and said the committee strived to find someone who met each and every category.
Top issues included competitive sales prices, more buyers, good customer service, maintaining the Monday sales with a Sunday delivery option, having food on site during sale days, holding small animal sales and specialized sales and support for educational and county livestock associations.
Jimmy Cowan, the N.C. Farm Bureau field representative for the 11 western counties chaired the search committee and said Matthews was a great match.
"He seemed to be able to cover everything on the list of what producers were saying they wanted," Cowan said. "He has a great relationship with buyers, provides vet services, said he was willing to take time to visit producers. This business is about relationships and he knows that."
Matthews said he'd only been to the Canton market twice before learning of his selection, but started farm visits last weekend. He will be in the area quite a bit before taking over at the first sale in April.
"We've got to have cattle to get buyers," Matthews told the group of 75 or so assembled at the Monday sale. "I've got the buyers lined up. If we can get cattle here, they'll be here."
He told producers about his plans for a goat, sheep, chicken and other small animal sale on Saturday, April 24, and said there was some talk of a horse sale, as well as numerous specialty sales.
Matthews thanked John Queen for his work during the past decade, and said he is looking forward building on it. He will be on site every sale day and said all those who currently work at the market have been asked to stay on.
The current practice of allowing producers to bring in animals on Sunday before the Monday sale will be continued, he added.
"A lot of people don't know me," he said. "All they know is at Shelby we went to not open at all to 500 a week. I guess the element of the unknown in good in that sense. I hope to please most everybody."
A self-acknowledged "people person," Matthews said he looks forward to meeting the producers in the area. He said he has already struck deals with several buyers who are interested in attending both the Canton and Shelby markets to put together a load for delivery.
"Tying the two barns together will help," he said, noting he will be bringing a semi to the Canton facility every sale day and has worked out a deal with several buyers to truck them to Shelby after the sale. "It saves them time not having to find a truck."
