Ranchers pack the pens of the National Western Stock Show to take advantage of historic cattle prices

At the far northern end of the National Western Stock Show grounds — past the Denver Coliseum rodeo crowds, the Western art displays and the shopping stalls — lies the stockyards.

Besides being a massive tourist draw and a nationally known venue for producers to showcase their most beautifully coiffed farm animals, the stock show is also a major livestock marketplace. Many stock shows have auctions, though few operate at National Western’s scale.

Throughout the 16-day event, cattle from regional producers cycle through the stockyard pens and are paraded before potential buyers in an adjoining event center. They’re not primped or “fancy,” said stock show volunteer superintendent Willie Altenburg, but they’re ready to sell.

“This is the blue-collar kind of cattle,” Altenburg said. “Commercial cattlemen like to come to Denver and see the cattle that are in their working clothes, you might say.”

The economic climate for the cattle business has been mixed in the past year, with record-high beef prices on one hand and rising input costs and trade uncertainties on the other.