Peoria Stockyards Shuttered

Office manager Carol Clayton says pork producers in central Illinois will have to find other options to sell their pigs. “We stopped buying hogs on December 23,” she says. “And today is the last day.” 

She tells Brownfield the closing comes after its owner, Ron Jenkins passed away in June. “We had sold the land and the buildings a long time ago,” she says. “We were on a long-term lease and then on a year to year. The lease was not renewed in December.” 

Hog sales in Peoria have dwindled. In the 1950's Peoria posted hog receipts of more than 1 million head per year. Today the market only sells about 200 hogs per day.

Source:  Agri-Marketing