Bidding farewell: Carver man purchases last heifer from South St. Paul Stockyards

It was a moment that seemed to drag on forever, as Jim Dircks waited for auctioneer John Barber to call out that one magic word every bidder waits anxiously for.

“Sold!” the auctioneer’s voice finally boomed.

And with that, Dircks became the proud owner of the last heifer to ever be auctioned off at the South St. Paul Stockyards – a 1,000-pound black Simmental named Timeless.

“It took a lot longer than usual,” recalled Dircks of the sale. As a long-time cattle buyer, Dircks was accustomed to a quicker transaction, but he understood that the end of an era can sometimes linger on a bit.

After 122 years of selling livestock at market in South St. Paul, including more than 300 million head of cattle, the stockyards closed last month to make way for a more urban development.

“It was a pretty sad day in my life,” said Dircks, who had been bidding on cattle there for more than three decades. But Dircks, whose own farm in rural Carver has been eyed by developers, understands why the stockyards had to close.

“The dirt the stockyards sat on was worth more than the business,” he explained.

“And it simply did not work anymore to have stockyards in a metro area.”

A family affair

Dircks got his start in the cattle business when he was just 18 years old. His dad, who began buying cattle in 1940, retired on Dircks’ 18th birthday and gave him two choices – to go into the business or get another job. Dircks chose to follow in his father’s footsteps.

“It was nothing new to me,” he said. “I always rode along with dad to auctions.”

Dircks built a client list reliant on his ability to bid good prices on quality cattle. Today, he works with over 100 different clients and spends the majority of his days traveling from auction to auction.

“I put about 60,000 miles a year on my truck,” he said, noting that he buys 10,000 to 12,000 cattle a year.

Most of those cattle are purchased for other people, but some, like Timeless, Dircks buys for himself. Dircks spent $2,400 on that last heifer. “It was worth about $800,” he admitted.

However, the sentimental value of the animal was priceless – or at least it became priceless to Dircks in those waning moments of the final auction.

“My whole like has been made up of split-second decisions,” he said. “I never figure out what I’m gonna do until the last few seconds.”

But the notion of buying that last heifer had been swimming around in his mind for some time “just to have the bragging rights,” Dircks said.

Now, Timeless, who currently resides on a farm in Isanti, has a big job ahead of her.

“The plan is to breed the heifer, get calves and populate a herd with that one animal,” Dircks said. “And you know what? We’re gonna do it.”

-Mollee Francisco, staff writer