Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 20, 1995                   TAG: 9502200079
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KAREN LOEW NORTHERN VIRGINIA DAILY
DATELINE: FRONT ROYAL (AP)                                 LENGTH: Medium

WEAR BOOTS TO THIS STOCK EXCHANGE

They complete each other's sentences, put on their hats at exactly the same time and share a business vision: Making the Front Royal Livestock Exchange Inc. the most popular livestock auction in Northern Virginia.

Messick and Perry took over the auction Dec. 1, and it's the same as it ever was. The only difference, they say, is the new cafeteria has a new cook, but she's upholding the exchange's tradition of fine meatloaf.

The goal is to increase overall trade and build a large, loyal clientele for the livestock exchange that has served several generations of cattle producers in Northern Virginia.

``The more buyers you got, the more cattle you get, the more farmers you get - that's our theory,'' Messick said.

The exchange draws buyers and sellers to Front Royal from as far away as Pennsylvania, Messick said. But not the way it once did.

``We've got to go back and train the farmers all over again and not cheat them,'' he said.

The basic setup remains the same: seats in the big auction room slope down toward an earthen pit where animals are exhibited for sale. On the walls are cattle breed charts and farm-supply advertisements. The semicircular pit allows animals to enter the ring from one door and exit from another, while the auctioneer conducts business from the middle.

The auction sells fat cattle, ready for slaughter, on the first and third Thursday of each month and feeder cows on the second and fourth Thursdays. The first Saturday of each month is a horse sale. A few hogs, sheep and goats are mixed in with the other sales.

``Nothing jingles yet,'' Perry said, shaking the change in his pocket.

``It's picking up all the time,'' Messick said.

The partners make a profit by charging a commission of $3 per head and 1.25 percent of the sale prices for feeder cattle and a little less for fat cattle, Messick said.

If all of the cattle from a given sale aren't sold, either Messick or Perry will buy them and take them to their farms, then bring the cattle back for sale another day.

``We've got to help the market,'' Perry said.

``He does what I do, and I do what he does,'' Perry said to Messick's nod.