Meet A World Champion Livestock Auctioneer
The iconic chant of an auctioneer calls for bids and brings items to their top price. For Jared Miller that chant is his second language. He was the Livestock Marketing Association’s 2018 World Livestock Auctioneer Champion.
Jared’s home auction house is at the Lamoni, Iowa, Livestock Auction (where he is a part owner), but he recently completed a year-long tour of many sales throughout the nation. His journey revealed several differences in the way bidders make their offers to the auctioneer.
“There was a market down in Alabama and all the buyers sat ringside. Sometimes they just look at you and that’s a bid. The house auctioneer had to help me and say, ‘He’s bidding.’ I’d say, ‘No he’s not,’ and he would say, ’Yes he is, he’s bidding.’”
Jared auctioneered at sites from Idaho to Georgia. He says buyers in the South tend to sit closer to the sale ring, while those in the Midwest and West tend to set further from the ring and make more movement when they bid.
Prize-Winning Chant
In the national competition, 75% of the score is that chant by which every auctioneer is known. The other 25% of the competitor’s score is a personal interview to gauge the knowledge of the livestock and auctioneering field.
Jared says auctions are documented as far back as 500 BC in ancient Egypt. Some might call him a colonel – there’s a reason for auctioneers have that title.
“The colonels in the army sold surplus items,” Jared explains. “That’s where the term colonel comes from.”
It’s a term that dates to the Civil War, when the winning side of a battle would have a colonel auction off the items captured from the losing side.
Jared’s auctioneering career centers on livestock and machinery sales. So, what would be the most difficult area of auctioneering to conquer?
“Probably art,” he says. “I’ve never sold art, but I’ve got a friend that does. It’s something that is different because of who you are selling it to,” he says, noting at livestock markets most of the buyers are seasoned veterans. “When you are selling art there are a lot of folks that don’t understand [how to bid].”
Jared’s instructor at auctioneering school grew up on a farm and wanted to sell livestock, but he happened to get a chance to sell pottery. He became an authority on pottery – something he thought he’d never sell. It proved to Jared that there is a need for a good auctioneer to sell many different types of items.
On the Auction Block
Jared is a big believer in using auctions to sell just about anything. “When you sell your livestock in front of a live audience of competitive bidders, you’re going to get the most value possible on that day for those cattle,” he says.
Auctions are a business built on relationships with both the buyers and sellers, a culture Jared is proud to foster. “You treat your customers the right way and you build relationships that will last,” he says.
