MURRAY, Ky. — The indecision flickered in Richard Knight’s eyes as soon as the white Ford pickup pulled into the empty used-car lot on a chilly Saturday morning this month. He was midconversation with some out-of-towners in this small western Kentucky town, where hospitality is a point of pride.

But loaded in the pickup were the last of Freddie Bryant’s 2016 hams, and if Mr. Knight didn’t quickly join the gray-haired men crowding around the back of the truck, he could lose his chance to pick out the best-looking ham for his family’s Christmas dinner.

The ham won out.

“I’m sorry, but that’s the place I’ve got to be,” he said to the visitors, trotting toward the scrum, which grabbed up all 14 hams in about 20 minutes.

Mr. Knight, 72, like many people in these parts, has been buying his country hams for decades from three generations of Bryants, always on a single day in December at Billy Dan Crouse’s car lot.