State OKs Moses Lake livestock sales market

Owners Campbell, Maiers anticipate facility opening in fall

MOSES LAKE — The area's livestock is about to become a little less well-traveled.

The state approved an application submitted by Moses Lake businessmen Pamp Maiers and Larry Campbell to conduct a livestock sales facility as Central Washington Livestock. Maiers and Campbell received approval Monday.

"It's approval to go ahead and complete our facility, and then as I understand it, final approval will be when they accept the facility," Maiers explained. He said that the approval process took as long as had been expected.

Originally intended to be located on three acres of the former Pacific Northwest Sugar Company, Maiers and Campbell have purchased an existing facility on Frontage Road about three miles east of Moses Lake.

Maiers said the next step includes building pens, getting computers and installing an audio system, with hopes of opening in late fall.

The move will cut down on travel for livestock owners to the other operating livestock markets that would be over 90 miles away, located in Toppenish and Davenport. Markets in Okanogan, Quincy, Ellensburg and Walla Walla closed for various reasons over recent years.

"(It will make it) easier for dairymen and cattlemen around here to sell cattle without having to haul them a long ways," Campbell explained. "We're trying to keep the cattle industry going because it's what makes the farms successful, because cattle is what eats up most of the farm products. It's a central location for buyers and sellers to get together, basically."

As a bonus, when the owners come to Moses Lake for the sale, afterwards they will have a place to go shopping or eat, Campbell said, adding that there's not even a cafe in Davenport. The roads to get to Moses Lake are better, too, he said.

"We feel that this was a proper location for marketing cattle," Maiers said. "The further you haul cattle, the more they shrink."

Facility manager Bob Fancher agreed, saying that in hauling cattle from Moses Lake to Spokane or Sunnyside, for example, they will lose weight they often don't get to eat or drink. Many times, people have to haul cattle the day before an auction, and they can lose 8 percent of their body weight, which can make the difference between a profit and a loss.

"The local auction gives them a lot better options," he said, adding that there are a lot of facilities locally for people to have a few cattle, and it's not realistic for them to drive so far to buy and sell again.

"The central Columbia Basin, all of a sudden, has started having small farms with livestock on them," Fancher said.

At the March public hearing before an administrative law judge, about 45 people turned out to support the facility.

"The enthusiasm of the people in the area is what made us decide to go forward," Maiers said.

"I think it's going to be a good deal," Campbell said, noting that there's still a lot of work to do before opening, possibly in the middle or end of September. "At least we get to work on it now. But it's going to be good for the area."