The Crossville Stockyard will make facility improvements after receiving nearly $20,000 from the state’s Agricultural Enterprise Fund.
The Crossville Stockyard is one of 12 stockyards across the state to receive assistance from the fund. Crossville Stockyard Co-Owner Laney Colvard said the stockyard will use the funds to install a new security camera system.
“That will provide a better record of who is coming and going, and it will allow the farmers to view the cattle they bring in and allow us to view them when they’re loaded and unloaded,” Colvard said.
Colvard said the stockyard will also use the funds to replace aging office equipment. Colvard said the Crossville Stockyard was started in the 1960s and has served as a key marketplace for regional farmers and ranchers ever since.
“We provide services for Cumberland County, farmers and ranchers, and for surrounding counties,” Colvard said. “In 2025, the Crossville Stockyard sold 20,000 head of cattle, hogs, and sheep for a value of over $25 million.”
As an auction facility, Colvard said the stockyard plays a critical role for small-scale producers who may not have the volume to sell livestock independently.
“Most of our customers are small operators that can’t put together a tractor-trailer load of cattle, which a larger farmer can do and sell by private treaty, so most of the local farmers and ranchers, if they couldn’t sell their cattle at Crossville Stockyard, would have to go to another stockyard in a, another town, which would mean they’d have to travel anywhere from 40 to 80 miles to get to a market.”
Colvard said he estimates that the majority of local producers are small farmers, many with fewer than 50 head of cattle. Looking ahead, Colvard said livestock markets remain essential, especially as cattle numbers nationwide decline.