Nevada Livestock is a full-service livestock auction company located in Fallon, Nevada and serves the Nevada, Southern Idaho, Southern Oregon, Eastern California, and Western Utah areas. The auction holds a weekly sale every Wednesday with cattle being their mainstay. “Slaughter” cows routinely sell at 11:00 a.m., followed by “feeder” cows at 1:00 p.m.
All animals are kept in an outside pen area, which is quite extensive. A wooden catwalk allows access and provides buyers and spectators with a good view of the animals inside the pen area.
Investigators arrived at the July 20th Fallon Livestock sale at 10:00 a.m. The auction was busy and the parking lot was already full of trucks and stock trailers.
Even though it was 86F at this early hour, and the temperature was forecast to climb well into the 90’s, there was no shelter for any of the various breeds of cattle which included Holstein dairy cows.
The four horses observed in the outside pens likewise had no shelter or shade to protect them from the sun.
Investigators noted that approximately half of the pens had hay and water available to the animals inside, while the rest had nothing.
The “slow pen” was located in the back of the facility and contained 12 Holstein dairy cows. These cows were extremely skinny with bones clearly showing and their udders were quite swollen. On a somewhat positive note, the auction did have hay and water in the pen for these animals.
No “downer” animals were observed at the auction. The treatment and handling of the animals during the sale was average with no excessive hitting or electric prod use.
Animals’ Angels will continue to monitor the conditions for the animals at this auction.