Heritage District
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth Stockyards
Cowtown's Western-heritage district: twice-daily longhorn cattle drives, a championship rodeo, honky-tonks, and Mule Alley.
America's cattle heritage
The stockyards that built the American West
From the twice-daily longhorn cattle drives at the Fort Worth Stockyards to the working auction rings of the Oklahoma National Stockyards, this is the complete guide to America's stockyards — the historic yards that fed the nation and the livestock markets still selling cattle today.
Featured
Stockyards worth knowing
A dozen of the great yards, from Cowtown to the last working terminal market.
Working Livestock Market
Oklahoma City (Stockyards City)
Oklahoma National Stockyards
The world's largest stocker and feeder cattle market - the last of the great terminal yards still running, with live auctions and the Stockyards City district.
Historic Stockyard
Chicago, Illinois
Union Stock Yards (Chicago)
The most famous stockyards in the world — Chicago's 'Hog Butcher for the World,' the birthplace of industrial meatpacking (1865-1971).
Historic Stockyard
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City Stockyards
For a century the nation's second-largest stockyards, in the West Bottoms - home of the American Royal and the Kansas City strip steak.
Historic Stockyard
Denver, Colorado
Denver Union Stockyards
The Rocky Mountain region's great cattle hub and, since 1906, home of the National Western Stock Show - still held every January.
Historic Stockyard
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha Stockyards
The Union Stockyards of Omaha overtook Chicago in 1955 to become the largest livestock market in the United States.
Two kinds of stockyards
Heritage districts & working markets
Most of the great terminal stockyards closed decades ago and live on as museums, landmarks, and Western-heritage districts. A handful never stopped — they still sell cattle by the truckload every week.
Then
Historic stockyards
The Union Stock Yards of Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha and more — the meatpacking giants that built the cattle trade, and the Fort Worth heritage district that keeps it alive.
Now
Working livestock markets
The Oklahoma National Stockyards, Joplin Regional, Bluegrass, and the video auctions of Superior Livestock — where America's cattle are still bought and sold.
Across the country
Stockyards by region
Texas & the Southwest
2 stockyardsFort Worth and the Oklahoma City cattle markets.
The Midwest & Mississippi Valley
5 stockyardsChicago, Kansas City, St. Louis and the Ozarks.
Chicago Union Stock Yards Kansas City Joplin Regional St. Joseph National Stock Yards
The Great Plains & Mountain West
4 stockyardsOmaha, Sioux City, Denver and the video-auction era.
Start here
Explore the American stockyards
Twelve historic yards and working markets, plus in-depth guides to the Fort Worth Stockyards, the Chisholm Trail, and how a cattle auction works.