Oklahoma National Stockyards

Overview

The Oklahoma National Stockyards Company, known as ONSY, operates at 2501 Exchange Avenue in Oklahoma City's Stockyards City historic district, west of downtown in what was historically called "Packingtown." The market opened in October 1910 and, unlike most of the great terminal livestock markets built in that era, it is still operating today as a working live-auction cattle market, with sales held every Monday and Tuesday rather than existing only as a historic site or museum.

Oklahoma National is widely described as the world's largest stocker and feeder cattle market, terms referring to young cattle sold to be grazed or fed further before slaughter rather than animals ready for immediate processing, and is generally regarded as the last of the original great terminal cattle markets still functioning in the United States. It sits at the center of Stockyards City, a Western-themed shopping, dining, and heritage district that grew up around the market and today draws visitors as much for its history and atmosphere as for the cattle trade itself. That combination, a functioning terminal market surrounded by a still-active commercial district, is what sets Oklahoma National apart from the many stockyards elsewhere in the country that have been reduced to historical markers, museum exhibits, or redevelopment sites with no livestock trading left on the ground.

History

Oklahoma City's chamber of commerce actively recruited the packing industry to build the market, reportedly offering Thomas E. Wilson of Nelson Morris and Company a bonus of about $300,000, along with tax exemptions and rail and utility access, to locate there. That kind of civic investment, tax breaks and infrastructure bundled with a direct cash incentive, was typical of how young cities competed to land a packing industry that promised jobs and freight traffic for decades to come. The stockyards opened in October 1910, and Morris, later absorbed into Armour, and Wilson and Company both built packing plants nearby, cementing the district's identity as "Packingtown," a name that reflected the cluster of slaughtering and processing plants operating right alongside the sale yards rather than at a distance from them.

A coliseum was constructed in 1922 to host shows and rodeos alongside the market's trading business, adding an exhibition function to what had begun as a purely commercial operation. Live cattle auctions were added in 1961 and hog auctions in 1973, and by the early 2000s roughly 99 percent of sales at the market were conducted by auction rather than direct or private-treaty sale, a shift toward auction selling that mirrored changes across the cattle industry more broadly. By the early 1980s, Oklahoma National had become the nation's number-one cattle market, moving roughly one million head of cattle a year, a peak that placed it ahead of every other terminal market still operating in the country at the time. That single decade, moving from a regional market into the nation's top spot, set the trajectory that has allowed Oklahoma National to remain a genuine trading floor long after most of its peers converted to auction barns of a very different, smaller scale or closed altogether.

The Market Today

Oklahoma National Stockyards continues to operate as a working stocker and feeder cattle market, with roughly 350,000 head moving through the yards annually today, translating to about 7,000 to 8,000 head sold each week. That volume is well below the roughly one million head a year the market moved at its early-1980s peak, but it remains large enough to sustain the yards as a genuine working market rather than a preserved relic. Auctions run every Monday and Tuesday, typically starting around 8:00 a.m., conducted by multiple independent commission companies that operate within the yards, and sales are also streamed online for buyers who cannot attend in person.

The market was offered for sale in the fall of 2024 and, as of 2025, was under contract to a buyer group led by Oklahoma rancher Chris Franklin; operations have been described as continuing "business as usual" during the transition, though the sale should be treated as pending rather than finalized. A change in ownership, if completed, would mark a significant transition point for a market that has operated continuously since 1910, but the stated intent has been continuity of operations rather than closure or redevelopment. That distinction matters for a market whose value lies as much in its uninterrupted operating history as in its physical pens and sale ring; a break in that continuity would be unusual for a stockyards that survived the industry-wide consolidation that closed most other terminal markets decades ago.

How a Cattle Auction Works

On sale days, visitors can watch a genuine working cattle auction unfold from seats above the sale ring, a vantage that has changed little since the market's early decades. Ranchers and commission companies bring in lots of stocker and feeder calves, young cattle destined for further grazing or feeding before slaughter, and buyers representing feedlots and other operations bid on each lot as it moves through the ring.

• Sales run Monday and Tuesday, generally starting around 8:00 a.m.
• Multiple independent commission companies handle consignments within the same yards.
• Cattle sell by the lot as stocker and feeder calves rather than finished, slaughter-ready animals.
• Auctions are streamed online in addition to in-person bidding.

It is one of a shrinking number of places in the country where the public can observe this kind of terminal-market auction firsthand, rather than the electronic or private-treaty sales that now dominate the cattle trade elsewhere. The ring itself, with an auctioneer calling bids as buyers signal from tiered seating, preserves a style of open-outcry livestock trading that most other American markets abandoned decades ago.

Stockyards City: Visiting the District

Stockyards City grew up around the market as a commercial district serving ranchers, buyers, and packinghouse workers, and it has since become a Western heritage destination in its own right. Cattlemen's Steakhouse, on Exchange Avenue, has operated since 1910, making it one of Oklahoma City's oldest restaurants; local lore holds that ownership changed hands in a 1945 dice game decided by a roll known as a "hard six."

The district is also home to Western retailers including Langston's Western Wear and National Saddlery Company, along with hat and boot makers that have served the trade for decades, supplying the boots, hats, and saddlery that working ranchers and rodeo competitors alike still rely on. Together with the still-operating market, these businesses make Stockyards City a rare place where a visitor can shop for Western goods, eat at a century-old steakhouse, and then watch a live cattle auction that has been conducted essentially the same way for well over a hundred years, a combination of commerce, history, and working agriculture that few other American cities can offer in one walkable district. The district's survival alongside the market is itself notable: in most cities where the stockyards closed, the surrounding commercial blocks declined or were redeveloped along with the yards, whereas Stockyards City has continued to draw trade even as the cattle business around it has changed.

Frequently Asked Questions