Kentucky Department of Agriculture

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Agriculture Commissioner James Comer will join other state and local dignitaries for the grand opening of the Blue Grass Stockyards of Albany on May 23.

“This facility will provide a vital service to cattle producers in Clinton County and the entire region,” Commissioner Comer said. “It will connect area producers with big order buyers to the benefit of both. It also will create new jobs and bring farmers and their families in for sale days, which will give the community an economic boost.”

“We are very proud of this new, state-of-the-art facility,” said Jim Akers, chief operating officer of the Blue Grass Livestock Marketing Group, which owns the stockyards and six others in Kentucky. “It has been designed for customer convenience and also to be a positive addition to the business community in Albany and surrounding communities.”

The grand opening is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. CDT. A cattle sale will follow the ceremony. The stockyards and the Clinton County Cattlemen’s Association will provide lunch from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Door prizes will be offered.

The 60,000-square-foot stockyards will employ about 20 people, all from the local community, on sale days. The facility will have a capacity of 2,000 head of cattle. The stockyards will sell cattle on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The office will be staffed six days a week, and the facility will be open to receive cattle “24/7,” Akers said.

Clinton County had about 11,100 beef cows and 21,000 total cattle as of Jan. 1, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Kentucky is the leading beef cattle state east of the Mississippi River and eighth in the nation with nearly 1 million beef cows as of Jan. 1.

For more information about the Blue Grass Stockyards of Albany and the Blue Grass Livestock Marketing Group, go to www.bgstockyards.com or call 800-621-3972.