The Rural Voice, 1993-08, Page 22No big gamble
Len Gamble's move to the country proved to be perfect timing as
closing of Ontario Stock Yards redraws the rules of livestock marketing
By Keith Roulston
There's plenty of capacity in
stockyards across Ontario to
take up the slack when the
Ontario Stock Yards (OSY)
closes at the end of
December, says one man who has
been preparing for several years for
the eventual closing of the Toronto
operation.
As Len Gamble sits in his office at
Brussels Livestock, the sprawling
livestock sales yard just east of
Brussels, he gives the air of a man
who isn't surprised at anything in the
industry. Now in his 40th year in the
business, he's seen many ups and
downs and knows you can never take
anything for granted.
18 THE RURAL VOICE
While the closure of the OSY
came as a shock to many, it's
something Gamble has been
concerned about since 1985. As head
of Gamble and Rogers, one of the
large commission sales fu -ms at OSY,
he started hearing the talk of the
closure of the yards way back then. In
1991 he laid a foundation for life
after OSY's death when he bought
out Gordon Brindley at the Brussels
operation.
The location was perfect, in the
heart of Ontario's livestock industry,
and the facilities were good. Since
then he's made them better, building
a new barn as well as more outdoor
holding pens. A year ago Gamble
After 40 years in the cattle business
Len Gamble made a career move,
buying his own stock yards.
decided it was time to concentrate on
his Brussels operation and ended
Gamble and Rogers' long association
with OSY. Now, with capacity to
handle 2500 to 3000 head of cattle at
a time, he's one of those private
operators who is ready to take on an
added load when the producer -owned
OSY shuts down.
It's the presence of operations like
Brussels Livestock that led the
Ontario Cattlemen's Association to
question the OSY board of directors'
$2.5 million plan to downsize and
renovate the stockyards and make it