Hall of Fame

Jack McKennitt

2024 LMAC Hall of Fame Inductee

The story of Jack’s life more closely parallels the growth and development of LMAC more than anyone could possibly imagine. As you look at Jack’s life’s journey, you will see that his path was destined to intersect with the LMAC long before its inception. 

On a mild Monday in March 1929, a red-haired boy was born to a nurse and her second-generation cattle drover husband in the small southern Manitoba town of Morden. The Union Stock Yards had opened in St. Boniface just 16 years earlier, and the first auction ring opened only nine years later. 

It did not take Jack long to come to the realization that he wanted to make a career of buying and selling livestock. At the age of 15, Jack left the formal education system and focused his energies on learning what was needed to be successful in the livestock business. 

During the early years, Jack would gather cattle in southern Manitoba, load them on rail cars destined for Winnipeg, and then follow them to Winnipeg to watch them sell and make sure his customers got a fair price for their cattle. In 1959, he moved his young family to Winnipeg to be closer to the action. He spent the next year driving back to Morden to take care of his customers. But by the fall of 1960, he was living in Morden again and driving into Winnipeg 3 - 4 days a week to sit on the largest market in the province and deal with the packers that had established around the stock yards. It was a routine he would maintain for decades. 

Jack’s interest and knowledge of livestock continued to grow, as did his belief in the live auction method of price discovery for selling cattle. 

By the mid 1960’s, the railways were losing ground to the burgeoning trucking industry. Cattle were starting to move to and from the central markets by truck. As a result, the many rural livestock assembly facilities were disappearing and small local auction marts were springing up in their place. In the early 70s, Jack had been approached by a group of producers in Pilot Mound, Manitoba to manage and operate the small sale barn located in that community. 

As Jack became more involved in this area of the industry he became an active member of the Manitoba Livestock Market Association. Through his involvement as a buyer on most of the markets in Manitoba he knew most of the operators represented on the provincial association. His knowledge of the industry and personal relationship with these people resulted in his becoming the president of that organization. As the president of MLMA, he became more involved with the national association, attending the National Livestock Market Association meetings, which led to his being nominated and elected as that organization’s president. He was the President of LMAC from1989 to 1991. He was also a LMAC Board member for a number of years prior to that. 

Jack was the president of the Manitoba Auction Markets Association for a number of years. He used his fiery disposition to protect and defend the auction market business in Manitoba. During that time the provincial government adopted the Beef Commission, which threatened to take control over marketing cattle in Manitoba. Through a price stabilization plan, they took control of the fed cattle marketing in the Province. The sustainability of the auction market industry and the free market system in Manitoba was threatened. Jack McKennitt rallied the auction market owners to act. Jack with the help of MLMA members stopped the government’s marketing department from expanding into the feeder cattle and cull cow business. Although the markets did loose the opportunity to market the fed cattle for a few years, It could be said that Jack McKennitt may have saved the auction market industry in Manitoba. 

By the mid 80s, the railways had indicated that they wanted out of the livestock business and were taking steps to close down the Union Stock Yards. Combined with the loss of rail service, closing of the Union Stock Yards, and the changing political climate in Manitoba, Jack witnessed the decline of the local packing industry. Desiring to remain loyal to his Manitoba feedlot contacts and his need to continue to provide the full service to his feeder customers, he extended his slaughter packer contacts into Quebec, Ontario and a number of the Northern United States. 

Not only did the packing industry change, so did the marketing of cattle change with the closing of the Union Stock Yards in St. Boniface. In an effort to continue to provide the best possible marketing opportunities for the many producers in southern Manitoba, Jack joined with the remaining dealers operating out of the Union Stock Yards to open Winnipeg Livestock Sales in 1988. He remained a shareholder of this joint venture until his death in 1992. 

From its humble beginnings in southern Manitoba, McKennitt’s business grew to include feeder orders from Ontario to Alberta and into the Northern United States. With this increased customer base came the need to source more cattle and attend more sales, so he moved from just covering Manitoba markets to sitting on markets in parts of Saskatchewan. 

Throughout Jack’s life he never forgot that it was the individuals in the industry who mattered. From the young producers learning the industry in the 4-H beef programs to the interests of the members of the LMAC, his reputation as an honest champion of everyone’s interest was of primary importance to him. 

He was proud of the cattle marketing business and of Manitoba. In 1983, Jack offered to host the LMAC convention in Morden, MB, the first time the annual meeting had been held outside a large metropolitan centre. LMAC was young, and they had held annual meetings before, but never a convention open to the members and the public. Jack knew the business was changing. With that in mind, at the Morden convention, there was a demonstration on electronic marketing (an early version of TEAM). He invited delegates from Quebec, including a demonstration by a Quebec auctioneer. The entertainment was provided by a soon to become international recording star, his daughter Loreena, performing on the harp. A harp at a cattle convention - only Jack McKennitt could pull that off! All firsts for LMAC! Jack’s idea of a national convention blossomed into the conventions we host today! 

Jack McKennitt earned the respect of the marketing sector, producers and government representatives. He was a cattle dealer all his life. Promoting transparent price discovery by public auction was his passion and his life. When his temper and passion collided, it resulted in some very interesting comments from Jack, and some memorable meetings. 

Jack McKennitt’s son, Warren followed his father’s footsteps in the industry for a few years, also serving as President of MLA and a director on LMAC. The McKennitt family still has a cow herd at Morden, Manitoba 

Jack never was at the front of the line when credit was being handed out, he preferred to be behind the scenes getting the work done. Jack McKennitt died March 18, 1992.