New Fauquier Livestock Exchange barn rises from ashes

By LINDA BELL WINE
Special to The Delmarva Farmer

MARSHALL, Va. — The Fauquier Livestock Exchange is a much-loved landmark in Fauquier County.
The county has more than 1,222 farms on nearly 225,000 acres.
So when the main barn of this landmark, built in 1962, was gutted by fire in September 2010, the farming community was stunned by the loss.
After the fire the FLX and Marshall Feeder Calf Association held sales at the Agricultural Enterprise Center in Culpeper.
The extra 40-mile haul to Culpeper was a hassle for farmers in Fauquier, and the loss of the building and its restaurant was a heartfelt loss to the members of the local community.
The food was well received at Kevin Whitener’s Livestock Grill, and customers came from near and far for breakfast and lunch.
The bulletin board offered more jobs, services, livestock/hay/vehicles/equipment for sale than the local newspapers’ classifieds, and the news and gossip around the bar at the Grille were better than the papers’, too.
Rebuilding took longer than expected. The first stage of construction is complete and the Fauquier Livestock Exchange is now a thriving business again.
Tuesday, Dec. 13, was the first feeder sale in the new steel clear span barn, one of the longest sale barns in the state.
The sale was a big one, some 700 head; it was standing room only, however, because the sale arena is still on the drawing board.
The arena is part of Phase 2, which is expected to be completed by spring, according to manager Lindsay Eastham.
Fauquier Livestock Exchange field representative Randall Updike said all of the old faithful are coming back.
“The feeder sale was a really good sale. Right now cattle are scarce all over the country. We’re looking at three or four years for cattle numbers to build back up. The Fauquier Livestock Exchange will be a really nice market in time. Once it’s completed, we’ll be stronger than ever. Prices are record high right now, and that’s good for the farmer.”
“Everything’s brand new!” exclaimed Wes Ware, a field rep. “We have designed a more humane handling system; the barn is more efficient for cattle and employees. We have put in more automated water pens, and there is now a hydraulic squeeze working facility.”
“And we have a single animal scale and a group scale,” Eastham added. And finally, Jeanne Welch, the heart and soul of the sales office, is not in a trailer and using a porta potty.
The solar array on the roof of the main barn is the largest in Virginia.
It will generate more power than the FLX requires, and the excess power will feed into the local power grid, thereby generating revenue.
The solar array covers the whole roof of the barn, and it will generate approximately 220,000 watts of energy a year.
Come April, the Fauquier Livestock Exchange celebrates its 50th anniversary.
More on the anniversary are yet to be announced.
In the meantime, regular sales are held every Tuesday at 2 p.m., and state-graded feeder cattle sales will be held Jan. 10, Feb. 14 and thereafter twice a month, on the second and fourth Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m.
In addition, on the first Friday of every month the FLX team will be in Culpeper at the Ag Center for feeder cattle sales.