Cattlemen's Livestock Auction Market was the vision of Jim Robertson, Harry C. McCollum, Jr. and H. B. McCollum back in 1950.  It opened for opened for operation in 1950 and and has been auctioning off livestock ever since.  The original design not only housed the auction area, but it included a restaurant called the "Steer Inn" which was open seven days a week.  Amazingly, Robertson broke grown on construction on December 6th and on January 31st, they held their first auction.

Robertson and his brother previously owned a market in Wauchula but sold it prior to starting Cattlemen's Livestock Auction Market, Inc.  The elder McCollum was identified with the People's bank in auburndale.   H.B. McCollum and Harry McCollum, Jr. had been interested for some period of time in possibly entering the livestock marketing field.  After meeting Robertson, it seemed like a great idea to team-up.

In the beginning years of the market, Bob Robertson of Wauchula and Joe Sedmera of Lakeland were the auctioneers.

Bill Hamilton and Mike Tomkow later purchased Cattlemen's. Bill managed the Lakeland and Tampa Markets through the 1980s. Bill retired and sold his half of the market to Dave and Mike Tomkow in 1990, where they have owned and managed the market for the past 30 years

Cattlemen's is now owned and operated by The Tomkow family. Weekly beef sales are held every Tuesday at noon. Please contact Dave with any question involving marketing your cattle. We would love to help with all your Cattle marketing.