The Cattle Auction

"There was a boy in Arkansas"Who wouldn't listen to his ma
"When  she told him he should go to school

"He'd sneak away in the afternoon
"Take a little walk and pretty soon
"You'd find him at the local auction barn.

"He'd stand and listen carefully
"Then pretty soon he began to see
"How the  auctioneer could talk so rapid-ly
"He said, "Oh, my, it's do or die
"I've got to learn that auction cry
"Gotta make my mark and be an auction-eer."

"Twenty-five dollar bid it now, thirty dollar, thirty
"Will you gimmie thirty, make it thirty
"Bid it on a thirty dollar, will you gimmie thirty
"Who'll-ll bid it at a thirty dollar bid?
"Thirty dollar bid it now, thirty-five
"Will you gimmie thirty-five,
"To make it thirty-five, to bid it a thirty-five
"Who woulda bid it at a thirty-five dollar bid?"

The art of auctioneering is nowhere dispalyed as wonderfully as at a well-run cattle auction. It seems to me that livestock auctioneers sound different than other auctioneers. I find that they tend to be more rythmic, faster, and yet clearer in thier calls and actions. Not that I know a lot about auctioneering.

Most cattle today are sold via auction. For those of you who are unfamilier with auctions, it is basically a contest to see which buyer wants the animal or animals more, and who is willing to pay the most. The purpose of the auction is to allow producers to get fair value for their products. Basically, if a producers animals sell poorly, they aren't very good.

The process starts when the animal(s) (called "lots") are allowed into the auction ring. The auctioneer will usually wind up with a "Well, lookee here fellas" or a "Lets just see now what we can get". This phrase is unique to every auctioneer and good auctioneers will have a dozen or so, which keeps the patterns fresh. After the starting phrase, the auctioneer enters into the chant, asking for an average price on the animal. At purebred sales, the starting bid is usually high in comparison to the actual worth of the animal. This is done on the off chance that there is an overzealous bidder in the crowd, who may jump on the high price. After the auctineer has worked his way down to a tangible bid from the crowd, the numbers start to come in. To help the auctioneer see bids, three or four ringmen stand at the bottom of the bleachers and relay bids to the auctioneer. Good, fast sales can have these guys dancing pretty good. When bidding is slowing down, it is usually down to two people. Once the auctioneer decideds that there is no more money coming in, he winds down and sells the animal with a bang of the gavel.

The art of auctioneering is taught differently to everybody. Each auction school has it's own patterns, chants and rythms, so rarely will you hear two people who sound the same. Good auctioneers are easy to listen to and understand, are quick to see and call bids, and they know the price they want and when to stop. There is nothing worse than an auctioneer who continues to call, even three or four times, after there are no more bids. Auctioneering is a skill, one that I may decide to develop one day.