Latest / CattleUSA Daily / 101: How a Childhood Dream Turned Into a Life at the Auction Block with Michael Imbrogno

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101: How a Childhood Dream Turned Into a Life at the Auction Block with Michael Imbrogno · CattleUSA Daily

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  Welcome back to the Cattle USA Daily podcast.
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  Today we are welcoming Michael Imbrogno on to the podcast.
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  Michael is one of our contestants at the annual King
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  of the Ring contest that Cattle USA host every single year in
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  Dodge City, KS where we welcome a set of auctioneers from all
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  over the country to come and compete.
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  And we are just so excited to start this new series with you
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  guys and welcome on many of our auctioneers that we are going to
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  be having this coming July in Dodge City where we'll be
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  hosting that King of the Ring contest.
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  So Michael is just on to share more about his story and his
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  insane passion for this industry and for the auctioneering
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  business and the cattle industry as a whole.
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  So without further ado, let's go ahead and hop into this episode
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  with Michael and hear more about his life and his story.
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  Welcome to the Cattle USA Daily podcast, your go to source for
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  the latest livestock markets, industry insights and the
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  updates shaping agriculture today.
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  I'm your host, Lauren Moylan, a passionate advocate for
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  agriculture here to keep you informed and connected.
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  Now let's dive into today's episode.
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  Michael, welcome to the podcast. We are so excited to welcome you
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  on. You were actually our first King
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  of the Ring contestant that we are having on.
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  So super excited to have you join us today.
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  I would love it if you could just take it away, share a
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  little bit more about yourself, your story, all the things.
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  Lauren, thank you for the opportunity to be here
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  considered a great honor to to be on here with you today and
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  and talk about my story and how I got started in the auction
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  business. So how I got started.
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  I grew up in the auction business.
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  My family has been in the livestock auction business my
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  whole life. My father was a cow buyer and
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  started buying cows in the in the early 60s and bought cows
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  for a packing plant from, I would say 62 till 85 when they
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  when they sold the plant. Then in the fall of 1987, him
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  and my mother together, they started the livestock auction
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  business. We'd leased a couple of sale
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  yards from 87 till about 92 and then we had built our own
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  facility in 92 and had that till 2001.
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  So that's kind of how my love for this business grew through
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  my family. And you know, my, again, my dad
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  was a cow buyer for, for a long time and also a sale yard owner.
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  And my mother started working at a calf ranch when she was 16
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  years old and then started working out a few sail barns,
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  hauling cattle and pretty much doing every job around the sail
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  barn except auctioneer. She pretty much ran, ran in the
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  back, worked the rain, clerked, worked in the office.
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  I mean, she knows every aspect of a sail barn from front to
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  front to back. And for me, how my auctioneering
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  career started. You know, I professionally, I
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  started in 1994, but actually it started 10 years prior to that.
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  You know, I was born in 84, but in 1986 my dad, I had bought
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  contest tapes from the World Livestock Auctioneer contest
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  from the mid 80s. And so I was about two years old
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  and started listening to these tapes for hours on the end to
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  the point where I was mimicking the auctioneer.
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  Little 2 year old boy mimicking, mimicking the auctioneer.
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  And then by the time I was 4, I started developing A chant.
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  And so that's how it started for me.
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  And really my love for this business started there and and I
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  greatly enjoy it. I currently own Imbrogno
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  Auctioneering company. Primarily work in the livestock
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  auction business but also do a lot of fundraisers.
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  Have done a lot of County Fair auctions, worked in the
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  equipment auction business a little bit, as well as the auto
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  auction business a little bit. But it's, it's what I love to
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  do. It's it's, it's what I get up
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  for every day of the week and greatly enjoy it.
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  Oh, that's amazing. I love just hearing people's
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  like childhoods and how it shapes them into the people that
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  they are today. And the fact that you started
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  like started doing what you do now at like 2 and four years
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  old, really just goes to show that the lives that our parents
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  lead us into and everything along that can really shape the
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  humans that we become and the people that we are today.
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  I always say that growing up on a cow calf operation, that's
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  where I found the love for this industry.
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  That's where it got embedded in my soul and has shaped me into
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  the person I am. And I definitely see that in you
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  that it's, it's part of who you are and the makeup of your soul.
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  And that is just so amazing. Can you just share a little bit
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  more about your journey as an auctioneer?
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  So you have your own business, you're doing amazing things out
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  in California, but just all the things along those lines.
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  So, you know, again, I started started in 1994 professionally,
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  but I mean, I consider myself a self-taught auctioneer.
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  And you know, because I was self-taught, I did go to a
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  couple of bit calling seminar schools.
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  One in 2003 when I was a senior in high school.
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  And that was put on at the time was a joint effort between Max
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  Oliveira, your 2000 World Livestock Auctioneer Champion,
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  Ralph Wade, your 1974 World Livestock Auctioneer Champion,
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  and Jim Pennington, who was a big competitor in the World
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  Livestock Auctioneer contest. He was reserve champion I
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  believe in 1998, competed in it for a number of years.
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  So I went to that in into February beginning March of 2003
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  and really worked to hone my skills, refine, you know, my
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  chant and really build a well-rounded chant and then had
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  the opportunity again in 22,000 I believe it was.
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  I went to Champions Champ and it was basically the same school
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  that what that I went to in Bakersfield, but it was here in
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  Turlock, CA where I'm from. And it was put on by Max Oliver
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  and and Ralph Wade with the helpless lesson training.
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  And it's a great, a great school.
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  And again, it's, it's, it was a good, good refresher for me to
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  work on my chant and really develop what I was doing as an
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  auctioneer. And, you know, I've had the
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  opportunity over the years to work for some great people.
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  And I pride myself in being somebody that started at the
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  bottom and worked my way up to where I am today, working out
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  the back, writing in cattle, sorting cattle pin and cattle
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  work in the ring. Get the auctioneer here a little
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  bit in there. To me, that's what makes a great
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  auctioneer is learning all aspects of the business from
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  back to front, front to back. You know, I and absolutely I
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  credit, I credit my success to my family and a great number of
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  people that took me under their wing.
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  If I can list them all, it'd probably take about an hour or
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  two just to do that. But I greatly appreciate all the
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  help that I've received in my career and really enjoy enjoy
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  it. Yeah.
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  Can you, you shared a little bit about people that you've looked
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  up to across your career. Can you share a little bit more
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  about that? Have you had any major mentors
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  in your life or people that you just continue to aspire and look
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  up to? Absolutely.
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  First and foremost, I would say my biggest mentors would be my
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  father and my mother. Both of them were very have been
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  very instrumental in my career and shaping my career.
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  Another individual he passed away here a few years ago.
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  His name was Miguel Machado. He owned the livestock auction
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  in Escalon, CA and he really he was one of the individuals that
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  gave me my starting business. Him and his family, interesting
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  story is when we were in the sale yard business from the time
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  we started to the time we sold the barn.
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  His brother Joel Machado was our auctioneer and he was another
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  one that I created a lot of success to and great auctioneer.
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  I feel very fortunate to have worked or learned from, worked
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  with or learned from all five of the California Livestock
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  Auctioneer Champions of the World Livestock Auctioneer
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  Contest, that being Skinner Hardy, John Rogers, Max
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  Oliveira, Rick Machado and Dave Macedo, some really great
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  influences, as well as Ralph Wade and a number of great
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  individuals. Another individual that comes to
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  mind that we're going to be honoring if the king of the ring
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  was Rodger Emmick there again, you know, growing up in this
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  business and watching those tapes and Rodger was somebody
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  that I always enjoyed listening to, had the opportunity to meet
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  him a few times and have some have some camaraderie with him.
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  But one thing that always sticks out on my mind about Rodger is
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  any time that I would get on the Cattle USA and, and whether I
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  was tuning in to Dodge City or Pratt at the time, both those
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  sales he sold that he made the time to say hello and ask, ask
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  how I was doing. I really thought that was cool.
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  And that's what it's all about. It's about the people, it's
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  about the experiences, and that's what I look forward to in
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  this business. Absolutely.
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  Can you share just some of your favorite stories from over the
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  years as an auctioneer? You know, just getting the
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  getting the opportunity to be in this business and growing the
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  business is what I've really looked forward to because I feel
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  that being able to have people that you can work under and
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  learn from is a great is a great thing.
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  But then also getting opportunities to go other places
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  and learn other things. Because you know, not every sale
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  yard is ran the same and every sale that I've worked at the one
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  common goal that we have is working for the consignor.
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  But everybody has a different way of doing, doing what they do
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  in conducting business. And I feel very fortunate that
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  having the opportunity to work for the facilities that I've
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  worked for in my career has made me a better, well-rounded
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  auctioneer because I've been able to take a little bit from
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  each facility or each manager or owner and learn, learn from them
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  and use it in my everyday career.
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  That's that's what I enjoy about it.
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  Also having the opportunity to be a competitor in the world
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  Lifestyle Auctioneer contest. My journey with that started in
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  2006. I've currently been in the World
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  Livestock Auctioneer Championship 8 times, been a
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  semi finalist 8 times. And for me there again, it goes
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  back to the experience, the people and the exposure.
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  And that's what I think makes you a great auctioneer, makes
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  you a better auctioneer. And, and getting the opportunity
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  to have the camaraderie with these contestants and these
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  market men and women in the industry.
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  I think it's great being able to go out and experience different
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  facilities or different areas of the, of the country and see
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  different cattle and whatnot. I think it's a great thing.
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  And that's, that's what I look forward to the most and that's
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  what I've enjoyed. Some of the best friendships
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  that I've had in my life have been being involved in the
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  industry and being involved in that contest and any, any of the
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  contest that I've had the opportunity to be in.
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  Again, some of the greatest friendships I've ever had have
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  stemmed from being in this industry and and being a
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  competitive auctioneer. Yes, what's what's the future
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  hold for you? Where are your next steps in
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  life? I know we're going to be able to
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  see you at King of the Ring next month, which we're looking
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  really looking forward to, but looking into the future what
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  what do you have in store? What are your goals,
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  aspirations, all the things? Well, my, you know, I've growing
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  up, you know, I had a childhood dream of, and it still is a
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  dream for me of being a world lifestyle auctioneer champion
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  and then also having the opportunity one day to own my
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  own livestock market and run my own livestock market.
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  Those are two of the biggest goals.
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  One of the the one goal that I've always set for myself was
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  to be a good auctioneer, but be the right kind of auctioneer.
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  The one that has the consignors best interest at heart, has a
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  good rapport with the buyers and knows how to get from point A to
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  point B for that consignor. So that's what that's what I've,
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  I have for myself. You know, those are kind of
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  goals that I've that I've wanted to attain, you know, and that's
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  what I future holds for me. Absolutely.
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  As we round out the podcast, is there anything else that you
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  would like to say to our audience or leave as we round
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  out? I'd just like to again say thank
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  you for the opportunity to be here.
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  I think it was considered it a great honor to be on here with
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  you today, but also a great honor to be a part of the King
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  of the Ring this year. And honor, not only honor Roger
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  Emmick's memory, but also have the opportunity to work for the
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  great consigners and buyers at Dodge City.
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  Yes, we are very much looking forward to having you in Dodge
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  City next month and welcoming you to Kansas once again.
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  So Michael, thank you so much for your time and coming on
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  today. We we appreciate it so much.
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  And just sharing a little bit more about your story and your
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  passion behind this industry and this business.
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  It's very evident in the way that you speak about it that
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  this is your lifeblood and we'd love to see that and love to
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  feature that here on the podcast.
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  So thank you for your time and to all of you listeners out
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  there, we will see you all next time on another episode of the
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  Cattle USA Daily Podcast. Have a good one y'all.