A Stockyards Memory

Korey Jackson shared this fun Stockyards memory with his parents, Richard & Gwen of Redfield, South Dakota. They passed it along to us.

“…I remember the time when Dad, Grandpa Goldin and I took a load using old Green pulling the gooseneck trailer late on summer evening, fitted with a Thermos of coffee and a jug of water; arriving late, parking in the busy stockyard lot, and settling in for the night.

A couple of us tried to sleep a few hours in the gooseneck overhead with sleeping bags and straw, the other in the cab. It was a very uneasy night, with trucks delivering pigs and cattle, their airbrakes hissing, the diesels double-clutching and revving in reverse, coupled with the shouts of the unloading process, the overwhelming odors, the confusing cacophony, the bawling and the squealing – and then there were the sounds of the animals, too!

After an early sunrise (and perhaps the strained bladders in the trailer bed), we would watch the incomprehensible actions of the buyers and wonder what the fellows in the office watching the futures board were doing (it didn’t look like work). Followed by a breakfast at the Stockyards Cafe.”

Korey is a graduate of South Dakota State University, and is a retired U.S. Army colonel. He served as as director of nuclear defense policy for the Homeland Security Council under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama in The White House, where he always had his FFA jacket hanging in his office.