WHATELY — The sounds of mooing cows, cooing chickens, and bleating sheep drift through a maze of fences that crisscross the dimly lit interior of the Northampton Cooperative Auction Association’s auction house, as farmers unload livestock from dusty farm trucks and discuss the day’s market prices.
“We get a lot from Vermont, New York, Maine, Connecticut, all over New England,” said Kimberly Reardon, president of the co-op, while standing on concrete loading platform at the co-op’s property at 353 Long Plain Road.
“We have some people who will buy for other people,” she continued, as she helped a farmer unload a few crates full of rabbits, “but for the most part, people come and buy for themselves.”
Since the late 1940s, the co-op has been a staple in the local farming community, and, since the ’60s, after moving to Whately from Northampton, has held livestock auctions every Tuesday at the auction house.
Each week, farmers bring sheep, goats, pigs, cattle, chickens, rabbits, eggs, hay and grain, to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
By the end of this year, the co-op will have held more than 50 sales.
“Our mission is to provide a marketplace for the farming community,” said Edward Land Jr., auctioneer and manager of the auction house. “They’ll have cows this week, something else next week; it’s a revolving door.”
Land said the auction usually has about 120 to 130 consigners each week.
Although the co-op is a business and must meet expenses, Land said it’s also one of the last farmer-owned livestock auctions in the country.
The auction is overseen by a nine-member board of directors, and has about 400 shareholders.
“Most farmers try to sell directly from the farm,” he added, “but some have too many to do that.”
To facilitate the auctions, Land said he acts as a middleman between buyers and sellers. His job is to bring enough sellers to the auction so that it’s worth it for buyers to make the trip.
“It’s a happy medium,” the auctioneer said, “everyone’s gotta live. It’s not an easy thing to do, you’ve gotta be fair.”
The auction house earns commission on everything sold – about four percent on cattle, seven percent on calves and ten percent on lamb, sheep and goats.
“Eight hundred and eighty pounds, 70, 65, 60, one, two, three, 61,” Land Jr., the presiding auctioneer, rattled off to a small group of buyers lounging on chairs inside an auction room as cattle paraded in front of them.
“Sixty-one, no less!” he called, finalizing the sale.
A sturdy fence separated the audience, who sat in stadium seating, from livestock, which were paraded past the front of the room. The scent of manure was overpowering and the auctioneers voice scratchy, as it came through a few speakers mounted on the wall.
Buyers jotted down figures in notebooks, and hooves clattered on concrete as an attendant opened a wooden door. The recently purchased cow ran back into the holding barn, and another was ushered in for the next sale.
For buyers such as Christopher Gentile, a certified livestock dealer, who was bidding during Tuesday’s auction, knowing how the market fluctuates throughout the year is key to success.
“Pretty much on any given week, it’s anything,” he said, when asked what he looks for at auctions. “Next week could be the opposite of this week.”
Gentile bought pigs, sheep, goats, lambs, cows and cattle. He said the market can change dramatically during ethnic holidays or other specific times of the year.
To make a living, Gentile buys livestock at the request of farmers, or, keeps them at his business in Barre, Tom Lam Livestock Hauling, until he’s able to resell and make a profit.
When bidding for livestock, Gentile said he’s most interested in health concerns.
“Having a series of vaccinations is something to sell,” he said, adding that being able to predict the final size of an animal is also important.
At the same time, he said that everything has value when there’s demand.
“Now there’s a cow,” Land enthusiastically announced, after a cow weighing more than 1,600 pounds came into the room.
On a particular Tuesday, calves sold anywhere from about $25 to $75, hogs sold from $55 to about $60, and lambs sold from $120 to $175, all per 100 pounds.
You can reach Andy Castillo
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