Templeton Livestock Market a casualty of change

For 14 years, Randy and Beth Baxley ran the Templeton Livestock Market, a sales yard that united buyers and sellers for live auctions. Last October the Baxleys sold their last cow, and Templeton Livestock Market, one of the last vestiges of the cattle ranching market on the Central Coast, shut its doors. The closure had little to do with the drought, or low inventory of cattle. The landowner wouldn’t renew the lease, opting to sell the property to a housing developer. “It’s a sad thing. If we had owned the property the livestock market was on, we’d still be there,” Beth Baxley said. The Baxleys are just two sales yard operators forced to close their doors as the cattle ranching market continues to decline. More than 40 years ago, livestock markets dotted California in Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Dixon and Salinas. Now just 23 sales yards remain statewide...more