ASSIGINACK—The Manitoulin Livestock Exchange, a service headed by Dave McDowall of Assiginack to help farmers sell their cattle on-Island, will cease operations.
“We didn’t close it down because it didn’t work,” Dave McDowall told The Expositor, “it was a pilot project, but it just wasn’t big enough to draw a significant number of buyers and sellers.”
To make it a successful venture, Mr. McDowall added, a permanent facility capable of housing 1,000 head would be needed. He guesses the cost at over one million dollars to build such a space “and I’m certainly not in a position to do that,” he laughed.
Mr. McDowall also pointed to the “horrendous” amount of paperwork and government liaison he needed to do on a regular basis.
While the cattle auctions are finished, he will be bringing southern Ontario auctioneer and buyer Kevin McAllister to Manitoulin in March, making him available to Island cattle farmers who may be wishing to sell their livestock.
“I also thought of having a select sale, such as vaccinated or non-vaccinated, but I’m not sure that would work,” Mr. McDowall added, noting that sales are best done with groups of cattle in numbers of 15 to 25.
Mr. McDowall said he certainly believes a cattle sale would work on Manitoulin, but it would need to be on a larger scale. He remarked that the passage of time since the closure of the popular Little Current Sales Barn operated by the late Jack Orford has had an affect on the selling behaviours of Island farmers who have been forced to seek other avenues and markets for dispersal of their livestock.
