Mankato sale barn in business for 93 years and going strong

Since 1929, a livestock sale barn has been located on the north edge of Mankato. The original barn has been replaced with the modern sale barn, office and pens of Mankato Livestock Inc.

At a recent Friday sale day, more than 4,000 head of cattle were sold. Customers come from northern Kansas and southern Nebraska. Most of the buyers are from Smith Center, Salina, Tipton and Osborne, Kansas and Blue Hill and Exeter, Nebraska. According to the owners, the sellers "cover a wide area."

Current owners of Mankato Livestock Inc., are Scott Greene, John Russell, Kelly Bouray and Neil Bouray. There are 20 to 25 employees at the facilities. The main auctioneers are Matt Becker and Neil Bouray.

Kelly and Neil Bouray grew up in the sale barn business, the third and fourth generations of Montgomery auctioneers. Kelly's father and Neil's grandfather, Andy Montgomery leased a sale barn in Superior for several years before buying the Mankato barn. Several of the Montgomery women, and two of their parents, Dallas and Myrtle Morris, worked in the sale barn's lunch room. When Kelly was a young girl, she would wash dishes in the sale barn lunch room for her Morris grandparents. Kelly said, "It was always a family thing going on in the kitchen."

In 1980, the Superior sale barn was leased to someone else, and Andy Montgomery purchased the Mankato barn. Before Montgomery, the Mankato sale barn had several other owners. With her father, Kelly came to work in the sale barn office. She enjoyed working with the other office workers, the livestock buyers and sellers. As a young boy, Kelly's son, Neil, would tag along with his grandfather, Andy. At the sale barn, he would help where ever he could. Kelly said, "When Neil started school, he had a hard time not being able to go with his granddad to the sales on Friday."

Neil was bitten by the Montgomery family auctioneering and sale barn managing bug. Andy would remain owner for more than 20 years. He sold out in 2004 to Kelly, Bill Logan, Scott Greene and John Russell. In 2014, Neil Bouray bought Logan's share.

The original building was showing its age. The roof was leaking, the plumbing and wiring needed to be updated. Other changes were needed to make the operation safer and more convenient. After consulting with an architect, it was decided to take down the older building and build a new one.

The new facilities were constructed in 2018 at the same location. "This has long been the place where the sale barn was and it had become a landmark," said Kelly. The old barn was torn down on June 1, 2018. Working with the construction company, the owners wanted the new barn up and going before the fall sales started.

The first sale in the new building was held August 21. Today, the red metal building is a stand out, along with the covered pens. Kelly is in charge of the new office with all the latest technology features.

The main door, on the south side of the building, leads into the foyer and on into the western theme lounge with a leather couch, and large wooden table. Pictures of the early days of the sale barn, hang on the walls. East of the lounge is the office area, with older barn wood siding covering the front of the counter. A large screen television is in the northwest corner of the lounge on which Kelly and the office workers can view what is happening in the sale ring. A hallway from the lounge-office leads to the sale ring.

Around the sale ring, concrete risers have comfortable sitting chairs attached which offer good views of the sale ring. The sale ring is larger than the former ring, with the scale in the ring. This makes more room for more cattle to come into the ring at one time and speeds up the sale. The higher level to the east of the sale ring is where the auctioneers and other workers are stationed. They have a great view of the ring, and a good view of those seated to the west of the ring. A large screen is above the auctioneer and workers televise the weight, head count and price of the cattle as they come through the sale ring.

This modern sale barn has drawn more business and new customers to Mankato.

There are now three chutes to unload at instead of the two that were there before. This makes it more convenient for the customers. Kelly said before, there were trucks in a line down the street from the pens, waiting to unload. Now there is hardly a wait at all.

The lunch room is down the hallway, before coming to the ring. It has a modern kitchen. On sale day the counter top is covered with slices of homemade pies. Pies have long been associated with the Montgomery-Morris lunch rooms. Tables and chairs are placed along the south side of the lunch room. A door on the west of the room leads outdoors. The current renter of the lunch room is Marilyn Shaw of Roseland, Neb.

Upstairs is a large conference room with tables, chairs and a television showing activities in the ring. Photos of the former sale barn and the remodeling process hang on another wall of the room. Other appropriate pictures of cattle and rural scenes are on the other walls. From this room, a door can be taken for a higher view of the sale ring.

Another addition made in recent years is a cow sale held on Tuesdays, and of course, there is still the Friday sale of calves and cattle.

Kelly and Neil agree they are pleased to carry on the family tradition at the Mankato Livestock Inc.