Six Weeks, 4,000 Miles: From First Call to Opening Day at El Dorado Springs

From first call to first sale

In June, the new owners of El Dorado Springs Missouri Producers Stockyard & Auctions contacted MartEye for a demonstration of MartEye Studio, our cloud-based back-office system. We had spent almost a year adapting Studio for US sale barns, but El Dorado Springs would be our first US installation.

On the first call, the two teams worked through how the barn planned to operate. Check printing, display boards, scale integration and reporting were all discussed, along with examples of how each might work for them. We also showed how Studio handles UK sheep sales of more than 10,000 head, alongside its email marketing, reporting and mobile capabilities.

Adapting Studio for a US sale barn

Most of the core features were already in place, but the early demonstrations showed where the workflows still needed to change. We adapted commissions, product codes, data entry and ring displays so the barn team could run realistic practice sales using the same information they would need on sale day.

At the same time, we were working closely with an experienced sale clerk in Missouri to make sure we understood the wider requirements of US sale barns. Every barn works slightly differently, so the aim wasn’t to build a one-off version for El Dorado Springs. It was to build a general US version, configured for El Dorado Springs.

The teams stayed in contact as new questions arose and preparations continued. But calls and emails can show only so much. To understand the risks on sale day, we needed to see the barn and meet the people who would use the system.

Boots on the ground in Missouri

A MartEye team member arrived at the barn on 13 July. The purpose of the trip was simple: understand how they wanted to run their sale and shape Studio around that. The visit uncovered practical details and improvements that could only be found through conversations with the people doing the work.

• Adding new buyers through the mobile app, including driver’s license upload
• Automatically applying vet fees for scrapie tags on sheep and goats
• Penning from the Studio mobile app in the yard
• A better clerking workflow for miscellaneous sales
• Consignment entry and clerking screens arranged around the team’s workflow
• Recording the weight of a draft before the seller’s details are known
• Clearer tracking of custodial and general accounts
• Reporting by species
• Easier switching between per-head and per-pound sales

Engineering, paperwork and people

Part of the day was engineering. From the scales, the team on site worked with colleagues in Ireland to test Studio’s connection to the scale PC, including remote balancing and weight audit trails. This was important for supporting the barn’s Packers and Stockyards record-keeping requirements.

The rest of the visit was about people. Meeting the clerk, ring staff and office team helped us configure Studio around the way they actually work.

Four weeks of working it out together

Before the visit ended, we opened a shared communication channel for the barn and MartEye teams. For the next four weeks, it became the main place for questions, screenshots, answers and improvements.

Everyone could see the same information as we worked toward opening day. That shortened the time between someone finding a problem and the team understanding and resolving it.

The mock sale

Two weeks before opening, the team ran a complete practice auction with sheep, goats, cattle, birds and rabbits. Because the Saturday auction also handles miscellaneous items, those needed to be tested too.

Watching from Ireland, we asked them to put something on the scale so we could check the live weight feed.

“I have the stool on the scale now.” Twenty pounds. Old and heavy, the team reported.

As more of the barn staff saw how the system would work on sale day, further questions and improvements emerged.

Opening day

Six weeks after the first call, the date they had chosen in June arrived. Friday was the hoofed sale and the first animals through the ring on Studio.

From the outset, we knew their first auction had to open on time and keep moving. Two MartEye team members flew out to support both opening sales in person.

Like any first sale, it uncovered a few practical issues. Having MartEye team members in the building meant those issues could be resolved as they arose.

Just before seven that evening, the first lot went through. By the end of the sale, 127 lots and 287 head had crossed the block.

Saturday: caged animals and miscellaneous

Saturday’s caged-animal and miscellaneous auction ran 429 lots.

By the end of the day, the barn’s own staff were running Studio themselves. The words that came back were smart, simple and easy.

What we’re improving next

Opening weekend also showed us what needed to improve next: end-of-sale reporting. Studio captured the information, but the results still had to be grouped manually by weight band before publication. We’re turning that into a report the team can copy and publish directly for their next sale.

The barn opened on the date its owners had chosen in June.