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124: Cattle Marketing Hall of Fame Reflections with John Campbell · CattleUSA Daily

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Welcome back to another episode of the Cattle USA Daily Podcast.
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Today we are welcoming someone onto the podcast that many of
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you, if you've been following us on YouTube for a while, are very
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familiar with. John Campbell is joining us on
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the podcast today and we are so excited to be able to interview
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him and talk to John about his life and just what brought him
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to where he is right now in his life.
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This last weekend we had the honor of inducting him into the
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Cattle Marketing Hall of Fame Fame and then just getting his
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company at King of the Ring and Dodge City.
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And we're discussing all of those things today.
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And then just John's story, What brought John to where he is
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right now and the life that he is living.
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Without further ado, let's go ahead and get into this episode
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of John. Welcome to the Cattle USA Daily
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Podcast, your go to source for the latest livestock markets,
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industry insights and the updates shaping agriculture
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today. I'm your host Lauren Moylan, a
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passionate advocate for agriculture, here to keep you
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informed and connected. Now let's dive into today's
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episode. John Campbell, welcome to the
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podcast. We are so excited to have you on
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and get to talk today about this last weekend on what we were all
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doing in Dodge City with King of the Ring.
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You are a Hall of Fame inductee and it was just, it was a
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really, really great weekend. I I would love to hear more your
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thoughts on it. Well, it, it was just, you know,
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we, we've had this gathering for a number of years now and we
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have a, a video auction that we sold about 7000 cattle on our,
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our High Plains Internet video auction.
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And we, we kind of kicked that off Wednesday.
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And it's really a big, big week. It kind of coincides with Dodge
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City Day. So they, they've got a big rodeo
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going on. And you know, I had a a lot of
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people that travelled unbelievable amount of distance
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to get there. And besides the festivities that
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went on Lorne, they were really excited about all the things
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there was to do in Dodge City, KS.
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They they went to the rodeo, they went to the museum.
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I had one friend that comes from West here, about 200 miles.
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He took his boy to the car races.
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You know, I didn't even know they had that.
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But so anyway, a lot of things going on this weekend and, and
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it's it's great for really at animal agriculture.
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It's great for livestock auctions and markets and and a
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big showcase sale of course, at winter livestock.
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They offered right at 8000 cattle live through the ring and
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and they had a meet and greet. Seems like that was on and like
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a Wednesday night where we all got together at, at the museum
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at Dodge City. Really nice cocktails and hors
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d'oeuvres and just, you know, real informal and, and got to
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meet all of the other inductees. Every one of them was there and,
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and could really set down and, and, and visit with, with, with
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a lot of those people. So yeah, lots going on and and I
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was really honored to be a part of it and and it was a lot of
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fun. Yes, it was an eventful weekend,
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that is for sure. I would like to first and
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foremost talk about being inducted into the Hall of Fame.
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How, how does that feel? What are what are your thoughts
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on that? Well, it, it's pretty, it's
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pretty humbling, as I, as I mentioned in in my speech, to be
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grouped with the, you know, people like a Ray or a Carl
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winner that were just pioneers, you know, and built markets from
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the ground up. And what's a wide spectrum of
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people? And not to leave anybody out,
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but you have Ralph Wade, the I mean, he's just the undisputed
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best auctioneer that there's, there's ever been.
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And I, I don't think anybody would, would argue that fact.
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And he was there And and I, I've known Ralph for a number of
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years and and you know, I just had a cassette is that I just
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wore out when when I was learning to auctioneer, I was
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kind of self-taught. I never went to a school, but
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but just great, great people, you know, Jackie Moore and and
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of course, you know, Ellington Peak and you've just got real,
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real pioneers. You know, here I am.
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I mean, I'm just ran an auction on hire, you know, but but I,
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I'm really honored to be part of such an elite group.
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I'm I'm deserving probably. Well, your acceptance speech, I,
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I will say I think that one is going to go down in history and
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for everyone that is listening to this that hasn't gone and
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looked at John's acceptance speech, I'm going to need you to
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hit pause and go do that real quick and then come back and you
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can enjoy what we are talking about.
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I think you're the only person that could have gotten away with
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pulling out a bottle of whiskey and lighting the cigarette up.
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And the reception hall of the casino, which phenomenal,
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phenomenal it. Was well, thank you.
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You know, you go to a lot of those and, and you know, you
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want to be sincere and you want to be genuine of, about
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receiving an award like that. But I think people like to be
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humored a little bit too, you know, and, and you can kind of
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say some things that just exclusively the crowd can relate
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to. You know, and I, I was trying to
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make a reference that, you know, both my grandfathers were, were
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in the auction business and my dad was, and, you know, the old
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timers, they were all hard cigarette smokers, you know,
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and, and most all of them had a fifth or a pint or 1/4 a handle
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of something in the bottom drawer.
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And so, you know, just trying to make reference to that, that
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that's about the only similarity in, in traits that I probably
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possessed with, with a lot of those guys.
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But I think everybody could, could, could relate to that or,
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or for sure all the old school guys, you know, and I, I never
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have thought I'm old school, but I guess I am.
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So I, I, and I don't smoke or I don't want to say I don't drink,
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but probably not on a regular basis like, you know, that they
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did sixty, 7080 years ago. It was just as more of a social
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norm then you know. Yeah, 100% it was.
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It was a phenomenal acceptance speech and darn it, you were the
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last one up there and you got that crowd rocking and rolling
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again, woke everybody up and it was, it was really great.
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It was, it was phenomenal. I want to hear more about you
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and your story and what got you to where you are right now.
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You've had an amazing life and the life that brought you to
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being a part of the Hall of Fame.
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And I would love to hear just more about what brought you to
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where you are right now. Well, yeah, it it, it's been a,
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you know, it's been really a great run for me.
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And of course, I can't think what her livestock enough.
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They kind of took a a virtually unknown, you know, and, and
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elevated me to, to a level that that I certainly wouldn't have
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been able to achieve with without them.
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We have never had a, never had a crossword, never had a, a
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discussion of, of, of, of any time where, where there was ever
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any kind of a, a conflict. And I don't know if that's
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credit to me or credit to them or, or just that maybe we
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complement one another. But they have always just kind
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of let me do what I do and, and, and kind of go unrestricted.
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And so and it helps when you, you know, have the financing to
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do that kind of thing, but you end up taking or I do I take
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better care of winners money than I do my own.
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You know, it's just you hold that place in pretty high esteem
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when when people grant you that that much confidence.
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But I actually rollback 40 Jerry Keffler, who managed the firm
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before I got here, his son and I lived together in college at
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Colorado State University. So besides the participation
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letter I got from junior college, I, I also did manage to
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eke out a a degree from Colorado State, But, but really, that's
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how I got exposed to winter lifestyle.
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I had never heard of them. Of course, I grew up in the
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auction business. My, my grandfather Campbell had
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a back in the 30s. I mean, they used to sell horses
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and mules, you know, and, and he sold a lot of horses to the army
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and mules to the Army and, and really a really a colorful old
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guy. But I, I, I always, this is kind
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of an offshoot, but I always appreciated those old auction
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guys because it was a big event, you know, and everybody had
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their top coat on and their tie and all of those guys carried a
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cane and people that are around horses a lot.
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They all had a tape that come out of the, of their cane and
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they could measure out how tall the horses were.
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And it was just, it would have been fun to live in in that time
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frame, but it was, it was of course not near the volume of
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money, money that that we deal with now, but probably as a
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percentage wise, probably as much, if not a little bit more.
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But it was a business transaction and, and, and
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everybody conducted it that way. And so that was kind of my on my
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father's side of the, of the pedigree.
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And then my mother's father ordered bite a lot, a lot of
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cattle. And then he owned and operated
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an auction in Well County, the Colorado, in Greeley, Co And
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there were two there at that time, Greeley producers.
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And then he owned and operated Weld County Livestock Commission
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Company. And that, that's really where I
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got my start. I say my start, but I was very,
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very young, you know, just cleaning around the seats and,
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you know, I, I, you just kind of hang around and pick up trash
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and everybody would. I remember there was an old guy
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named Bud Zeiss. And after the sale, he'd always
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come and hand me 1/4, you know, and you just, you remember
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characters like that and and people that were involved and,
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and how you how you came up. So I had some background that
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way. My, my uncle was, was a he and
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my dad both rode horses at my grandpa's auction rat rode them
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through the ring and then eventually why he started
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selling the sale there. And a lot of people that are are
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in the paint horse breed will identify with Jack Campbell that
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that was he was one of the original board of directors of
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the American Paint or Association and stood a lot of
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and promoted a lot of high-powered studs and, and was
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a phenomenal pedigree guy and, and sold the Pitzer sale.
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And, and I was trying to think Bennett Binion, of course, from
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Binions Las Vegas fame, why he sold horses for sale for him.
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And so he was, he was just a real, real colorful guy.
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And, and Lex and Sean Madden both credit him to getting them
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started auctioneering. Of course, they're both world
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champions and, and I, I, I just kind of took some drill sheets
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that he had and, and I just like everybody else, you know, you
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sell telephone poles going up and down the road and sell
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everything. I, I never went to school.
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I was kind of self-taught and probably didn't learn how to do
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it right. And that's probably why I didn't
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last any longer than I did, but I really enjoyed it.
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But you know, when you're trying to manage one and then sell the
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sell the sale and, and do all the other things associated with
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it, why it becomes, comes a, comes a pretty big job.
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And I, I hired a, a young man by the name of Marty Neugebauer and
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he's still with us and, and still sells our sale.
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And, but you know, over the years worked with a lot of the,
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the Champions and stuff growing up.
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But anyway, that, that's how I got my exposure to, to winter
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livestock really through Jerry Keppler's son.
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He and I lived together and he kind of set it up and that was
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44 years ago. And I've I've been here ever
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since. I guess yes.
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This last weekend we were able to not only do the Hall of Fame
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induction, but then sit ringside and be a part of the King of the
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Ring and all of that. Can you share a little bit about
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how that felt? To be able to sit there and
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listen to all them guys throughout the weekend and just
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watch that sale go on on Saturday.
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Yeah, it's pretty unique in that, you know, of course LMA
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has the world champion auctioneering contest at every
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year, but it was really kind of Rodger Emic who sold for us
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forever and then he sold here in in Lahata for me a number of
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times. That was kind of his vision was
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to, well, you know, so many of those guys win the contest and
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then it's kind of over for him, you know what I mean?
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They that they've kind of reached that pinnacle of, of
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success and, and he wanted to have a contest that would take
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the best of the best and have them compete, you know, and, and
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it's, it's kind of interesting because you would have a lot of
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guys that would say, you know, what, what the heck else do I
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have to prove? You know?
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But winters sweeten the the pot pretty good to where and to they
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still like to compete and they still like to sell.
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But it's just the ultimate because you've got people that
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have already proven themselves and and they're world champions
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or they have placed or they've got a pretty long list of
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credentials. All the guys that enter into
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that contest, and I don't know that any of them, I don't think
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they necessarily do it for the money.
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It's a nice deal, but boy, if you can, it has become a contest
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to where, boy, if you win that, you beat some pretty stiff
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competition. You know, it wasn't just like
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the cloud that showed up that day.
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These guys have got a resume that's pretty significant.
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And if you managed to hold your own or win that one, you can
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really say that you've done something just by the structure
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of, of, of the contest. But and nice to hear, you know,
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you've got people from every place in the country, from
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California that, you know, you hear their style and you got
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guys from the Southeast and hear them their style.
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And, and we're kind of accustomed to the mid West, you
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know, the Dakotas, Montana, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado,
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that, that, that kind of area in through there.
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And they, they all kind of sound the same, you know, well, that's
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not necessarily, that doesn't have to be the best.
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You know, I, I think the boy that won this year was from
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Michigan. And, but to hear some of those
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SE guys and, and, you know, kind of compare notes with them and,
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and, and a lot of them, you know, selling 8000 cattle live
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at that one pop, that's pretty overwhelming for them.
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You know, I, I, I don't mean that, but they're not going to
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get that exposure. I, I know when I started with,
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I, with winters, I was from Northern Colorado, you know,
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and, and, and the auction business was just not near a
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substantial. And that's not to take anything
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away from those guys. My family's operation would
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would have been one of them. You know, I mean, if you had my
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guy, if you had 12-14 hundred cattle, it's a big deal.
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And you get down in, you know, the, at that time, the
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Amarillos, the the Joplins, the Dodge cities, the Lahuna,
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Colorado, my gosh, you know, I mean, they turn those numbers
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turn into thousands upon thousands.
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You know, even here in Lahuna in the 80s when there was so many
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cattle, we had to sail at over 16,000 cattle at 1 sail.
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Well, that's a little different dynamic than than if you've got
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1200 cattle to sell. So it was eye opening for me,
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you know, I mean, we just, I grew up in one where we'll sell
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the ducks and the bunnies and then we might have two boxes of
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crayon books and, and then we'd sell a few goats and pigs and
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then then we'd get into some cattle.
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And, and that was just what I grew up in.
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Cattle was our main deal and horses was our main deal.
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But you get here in the Midwest and, and the auction method of
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selling really, really substantial.
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So, But yeah, no kingering is nice.
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And if you've never been there, why as you could make comment to
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it really, really well done. And you get to see a lot of
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cattle and some big, big operators and big names.
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And I don't, I don't know if anywhere else you'd have an
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opportunity to rub elbows with, you know, the Ellington Peaks
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and the, you know, and the Ralph Wades of the world.
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Everybody's always heard of them.
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But you can go to Dodge City and you can, you can meet them and,
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and they're very cordial and, and all I'm willing to talk and
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sit down and discuss things with you.
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So yeah, it's a neat experience. Well, John, as we start to round
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out the podcast, do you have any final thoughts or comments that
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you'd like to leave with our audience this week?
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Just to, to say thank you again. I, I just, I couldn't believe
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the turn out on on my behalf. I, I had people that had flown
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from Merced, CA, from Washington state, from Joplin and the
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Dakotas and Texas. And it was overwhelming to me.
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And I just want each and every one of them to know that was
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very, very gratifying to me to think that you had had an impact
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in, in somebody's life that they would think enough to come to a
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deal like that. And you haven't even died yet,
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you know, So it was great, great to see them all.
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And I'm, I'm very overwhelmed and appreciative of everybody
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that took the effort to come share that experience with me.
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Thank you. Yes.
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Well, John, thank you for all the work that you have done, not
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only for the winter family and a bought on behalf of them, but
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also just on behalf of the cattle industry as a whole.
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It's it's wonderful to have you on and thank you for your time
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today. To all of our listeners out
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there, make sure that you like subscribe, rate review, do all
18:07
of the things. If you enjoyed this podcast with
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John, make sure you share it with a friend, share it with
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someone who else might enjoy getting to hear a little bit
18:14
more about John and his story. And as always, we will see you
18:17
all tomorrow on another episode. Have a good one y'all.