Avian flu outbreak puts damper on Yoder Poultry Auction

All David Keim knows for now is that he may see some unhappy people Friday.

As the auctioneer of the Yoder Poultry Auction – one of the state’s largest and most unique animal auctions – Keim is anticipating meeting sellers on Friday and telling them they will have to go home.

Blame it on Avian flu.

Earlier this month, the Kansas Department of Agriculture issued a stop movement order regarding all poultry events where birds are brought together. That means competitions at county fairs, the Kansas State Fair, festivals, swap meets, exotic bird sales and auctions. All poultry events are banned through the end of the year.

“The state is plain telling me I can’t do it anymore, I can’t sell any more birds,” Keim said. “There will be a bunch of mad people on Friday who don’t know anything coming with chickens that need to be unloaded or those birds will start dying, and I’m telling them they will have to take those birds back home.”

Keim, who has conducted the Yoder Poultry Auction for the past 13 years, said birds represent 75 to 80 percent of his auction sales.

“That’s my bread and butter,” he said.

Keim, who is Amish, said he started by selling only birds – chickens, geese, ducks and pigeons. Some auctions attracted only 10 to 15 people.

Now, several hundred people come to the monthly auctions, which have expanded to include ponies, sheep and goats. The auction takes place at 4 p.m. the last Friday of each month in Yoder.

In the past, he has said the sale “has turned into anything that walks.”

Keim said he started the auction in part because some of the local Amish farm families didn’t like their children coming home late at night from an auction in South Hutchinson.

Now, he said, people of all faiths and walks of life come to buy and trade poultry. Buyers and sellers come from Scott City, Great Bend, Oklahoma and Nebraska.

In 2011, he sold an emu. A few months ago, he sold an Amish buggy, horse and harness, goats, pigs, sheep and animal cages, which is more representative of the typical goods sold.

“I’m going to tell everybody the sale will go on Friday,” Keim said. “We still have rabbits to sell, cages. … We will sell anything that shows up – except anything that flies.

“The sale may not last more than an hour. I don’t know what to expect.”

This story was originally published June 25, 2015 at 8:27 PM with the headline "Avian flu outbreak puts damper on Yoder Poultry Auction."