Latest / CattleUSA Daily / 104: Auctioneer Neil Bouray on Family, Legacy, Mentorship and the Long Game

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104: Auctioneer Neil Bouray on Family, Legacy, Mentorship and the Long Game · CattleUSA Daily

• 0:00
  Welcome back to another episode of the Cattle USA Daily Podcast.
• 0:03
  Today we are welcoming Neil Borre on to the show.
• 0:07
  Neil is our second King of the Ring contestant that we are
• 0:11
  welcoming onto the podcast to just share a little bit more
• 0:14
  about his story and his start in the auction business, what his
• 0:19
  life looks like as an auctioneer within the cattle industry.
• 0:22
  So without further ado, let's go ahead and hop into this episode
• 0:26
  with Neil. Welcome to the Cattle USA Daily
• 0:32
  podcast, your go to source for the latest livestock markets,
• 0:35
  industry insights and the updates shaping agriculture
• 0:38
  today. I'm your host, Lauren Moylan, a
• 0:40
  passionate advocate for agriculture, here to keep you
• 0:43
  informed and connected. Now let's dive into today's
• 0:46
  episode. Neil, welcome to the podcast.
• 0:53
  We are so excited to welcome you on as our second King of the
• 0:56
  Ring guest and to just chat more about you and your life and your
• 1:01
  story. I would just love it if you
• 1:02
  could take it away and share more about yourself, your story
• 1:06
  and all the things. Thank you, Lauren and and it's
• 1:08
  it's a great it's it's a great pleasure mine to be here with
• 1:11
  you and and share my story and and and also be a candidate in
• 1:15
  the king of the ring for 2025. That's something to look forward
• 1:18
  to each and every summer and coming to Dodge City.
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  But so I am Neil Beret. I make my home in Weber, Kansas,
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  North Central Kansas, right on the Nebraska Kansas State line.
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  I am a fourth generation auctioneer, third generation
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  livestock market owner. I own, own and operate the
• 1:34
  market in Mankato, KS along with three other partners.
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  Have a great time. I mean, I love, I love the
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  livestock industry as as a third generation livestock market
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  owner. I mean, I, I grew up in it.
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  I mean, my grandfather owned, owned this market that I own
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  today before I was born. So I mean, it's, it's just the
• 1:51
  way of life. I mean, it's just the way it was
• 1:53
  and, and kind of the way I got, got into it.
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  I mean, I started, we, we also had a personal property,
• 1:59
  household farm auction company. My grandfather did, I started
• 2:03
  just mumbling around, you know, and, and, and started auctioning
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  at the age of 10. And he's like, we think you need
• 2:09
  to go to auction school. And so at the age of 15, I went
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  to auction school and at that time I went to Missouri auction
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  school. And at that time you had to be
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  16 or have a chauffeur. So my uncle jumped in.
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  He went to auction school with me.
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  I mean, he, he was, he was toying with the idea of becoming
• 2:24
  an auctioneer And, and, but we that, that's why he, the main
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  reason he went to Oxford school was, was to join me.
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  So come back home and and you're in high school and, and you,
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  you, when you can, you make it to the barn.
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  You sell cows, you do you do whatever, you scoop pins and,
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  and all that graduate high school and grandpa says, what
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  are you going to do? I said, I'm going to run a sail
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  barn. Got to go to college.
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  OK, well, me, I'm like to your Community College.
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  I can buzz through that big, no big deal.
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  Second year, second semester, second year Community College.
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  He says, well, now what are you going to do?
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  I'm going to run a sail barn. He says, Nah, you got to get a
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  four year degree. OK, so I went to the University
• 3:05
  of Nebraska and Lincoln got a got a degree in AG economics.
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  And about two months before graduation, he says, what what
• 3:11
  do you want to do now? I want to run a sail barn now
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  can't run a sail barn. You got to work for somebody
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  else first. So I was like, now what am I
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  going to do? I mean, this is what I've
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  prepared for all along. And so my, my college roommates
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  were from southwest Iowa and, and his, his dad was about back
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  and we're running around doing cattle stuff.
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  And he's like, hey, yeah, our banks looking for an AG loan
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  officer. I'm like, really, I can do that.
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  So I went and applied and I was the vice president of a of a
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  bank in southwest Iowa. It was initially Randolph State
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  Bank and then they changed their name to Tri Valley Bank in
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  Randolph, IA. I was over there for 6-7 years,
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  Loved every minute of it. I mean, made some of the
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  absolute best contacts. I mean, I still talk to two,
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  three of them guys that I met over there 3-4 times a week,
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  some of them and some of them daily.
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  Loved absolutely every minute of it.
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  The problem was when I was in working in the bank, Grandpa
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  sold the market. The good thing was it was to
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  four people that had worked for him for a long time.
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  My mom was one of them included and she she still is a partner
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  and runs the office. John Russell was one of our our
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  one of the buyers that bought my grandpa out and he'd worked for
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  for grandpa since he when he was 15, I mean started trading cows
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  and what not when he was at a very young age.
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  Scott Green had worked for my grandpa for a long time and then
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  Bill Logan and had been a field Rep for my grandpa for 20 years.
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  And and I was back for my sister's wedding in and in the
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  fall and the bill caught me and he says, hey, this was in
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  October. And he says, hey, I turned, I'm
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  going to get older next year and I'm not going to run that sail
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  barn anymore. He says, January 1st, you better
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  be back here and, and figure out what you're going to do.
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  I'm like, whoa, I mean, it just hit me.
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  It's like it's time to go. So at the time, I mean, I come
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  back in and had played with auctioneering.
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  I mean at the fair, I mean at the benefits and what not, I'd,
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  I'd help auctioneer take bids or what not.
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  Still actively involved. I mean very involved in it.
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  Get back here. We had a full time auctioneer
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  and I'm Outback sorting, pushing cows, doing, doing what needs
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  done. It was, I think it was the
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  summer of 2015, our auctioneer had had an oral surgery and took
• 5:27
  his bottom jaw and was no longer able to auctioneer.
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  So I, I kind of stepped in and, and really that was the
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  beginning of me getting in and going and competitively
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  auctioneering was that. And, and since then, I mean, I,
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  I auctioneer, I mean, we've got another couple guys that are
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  that, that help us to do an absolute tremendous job.
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  And that's what I've said all along.
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  I mean, I, if there's a young kid that wants to start, wants
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  to learn how to auctioneer, come to Mankato, I'll give you a
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  shot. I mean, I, I'm all about giving
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  anybody, anybody that wants mic time.
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  I'm not a Mike hog. They can all have it.
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  So it it's a great time. My wife, I'm out.
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  Like probably should have said that at the beginning.
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  I'm married to my wife Ashley, 1110.
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  Eleven years going on now. We've got 2 beautiful daughters,
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  Berkeley's 8 and Andy is 3. Busy all the time.
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  We're we are on the run all the time.
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  Like I said we run a market here in Mankato, KS.
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  I also work contract auctioneer wise for Sylvan Sales in Sylvan
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  Grove, KS every Monday, Unionville Livestock Market,
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  Unionville, MO every Tuesday and the Creston Livestock market in
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  Creston, IA and fall runs on Wednesdays.
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  So, so I got a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday auction every week
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  there in the fall, come back here on Thursdays, get cattle in
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  Friday, have a sale here at home Saturday, get them shipped out
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  and Sunday's a reset day and time time to figure out what
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  we're going to do the next week. So.
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  Are you ever home, Neil? Not very often, not very often.
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  And, and I do give a shout out my neighbor Matt, Matt Becker is
• 6:54
  my neighbor and auction partner in our personal property, our
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  auction company. He does chores for me a lot and
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  I appreciate it and and it's great.
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  And I and I, I couldn't do it without Matt.
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  So thank you, Matt. That's amazing.
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  Share a little bit more, what's it like to run and kind of
• 7:11
  operate just a multi generational market?
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  Oh, I mean it's, it's great. I mean, we've, we've dealt with
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  these customers and, and now we're dealing with customers,
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  grandkids and maybe some of them great grandkids since, since my
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  grandfather was started the market or bought purchase the
• 7:29
  market in 1980. So it's been, it's been good.
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  I mean the these producers we have in North Central Kansas
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  that we get to work for and not only in North Central Kansas,
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  the producers I got to work, get to work for every week, whether
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  it's in Mankato, Sylvan Grove, Unionville, MO or Crescent, Iowa
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  are top notch. I mean, I work for some of the
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  the best producers in the country I feel. 1000% And I'm, I
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  live in Manhattan, so I mean, I'm probably a little biased.
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  I think we've got the best producers in the state in this
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  area. We've we have a fun time.
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  It's it's awesome. You were saying earlier that if
• 8:03
  any kid ever wants to have some time on the mic to come hit you
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  up and you know what? There may not be a lot of
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  Mankato, but there is an auction and Neil will give you something
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  to do. There's a little dive bar I'm
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  pretty sure down the road and you can have a mic at the
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  auction block. I, I don't want to take all the
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  credit, but there is, there's a young man that was in the World
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  Livestock Auctioneer Championship this year, the past
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  several years, but I gave him his first chance and, and he
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  was, you'll get an interview him yet in the coming weeks.
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  But he was our extension agent here in, in our, in Mankato and
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  he'd come up on Fridays and sit and watch and I gave him his
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  first chance. It's Barrett Simon, he he, he
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  come up and watch all the time. And anyway, he, he'd moved on
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  from the extension, went to the Red Ang Association and he'd
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  moved back home to Rosalie, Kansas.
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  And I was filling in at El Dorado one day, and Barrett
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  caught me in the He come and watched.
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  He always did. He caught me in the parking lot.
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  He says, do you know anybody in the Wichita area that I could
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  sell pots and pans for? And I said pots and pans.
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  He says, yeah. He said, I think I want to
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  become an auctioneer. And I said, Barrett.
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  I said, it's a lot easier to sell something with value than
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  something that has no value. And he says, what do you mean?
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  I said, I've got a consignment sale next Sunday in Mankato.
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  I said, you come up and I'll let you sell.
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  It's odd. I don't want to do that.
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  He says that's, that's, that's a little too much pressure.
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  I said it's a lot easier to sell a panel AT100125 or 150 bucks
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  and it is sell a pot, a box of pots and pans or Tupperware at a
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  dollar. So he came up, he sold for us at
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  the consignment sale And, and I mean, I'm like this kids got it.
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  I mean, he's got it. And about 3 weeks later he came
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  up and sold away cows. And two weeks later I entered
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  him in the Kansas Livestock Auctioneer Champion, the auction
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  contest and it was in Russell and I, I can't remember, you'll
• 10:00
  have to ask him. He got 3rd, 4th place.
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  That's the third time he'd sold in front of a crowd.
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  And I'm like this kids, this kids good.
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  So I'll take the credit. Barrett, I got you going.
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  That's wonderful. I love that.
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  We'll have to give him a hard time for it.
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  When? Absolutely.
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  Be like, I'm going to ask him. He's probably like, we'll see if
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  he listens to this episode. If he does, he's going to be
• 10:21
  fully prepared. I'm going to start out the same
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  way. And then I'm going to be like,
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  so I hear you have a little background with Mr. Neil.
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  That wasn't part of your story. Tell me about.
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  Yeah. You left Neil out.
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  You left. Neil out.
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  What the heck? Wonderful, wonderful.
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  Just share a little bit more about your journey as an
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  auctioneer. You kind of took a little bit of
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  a what you could say is a traditional route for a lot of
• 10:44
  individuals graduating college. We all heard the same story from
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  our parents and grandparents. Hey, we want to we want to run
• 10:50
  the operation, We want to run the business.
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  Nope, you're going to college 1st and then graduate college
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  and they're like, Nope, you're going to go get a job with some
• 10:58
  benefits first. You're going to start your life
• 11:00
  out there and then we'll talk in a little bit.
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  And you took a very traditional route, but then you ended up
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  still going back to the family operation and opening that back
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  up to your family and your life and moving back to Mankato and
• 11:12
  doing all the things. So share a little bit more about
• 11:14
  that journey and that decision process that you and your
• 11:17
  wonderful wife went there. You know, it was, it was one of
• 11:20
  them things and, and looking back and now it was the greatest
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  thing. I mean, he grandfather knew
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  what, what I was doing or what I needed to do.
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  I mean, I graduated college and I'd never touch punched, punched
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  the time clock for anybody. It's other than other than the
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  market. And it was write your hours
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  down, you're good to go, you know, I mean, but I'd never
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  worked for someone other, someone else.
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  And that was, that was worth it. I mean, and, and, and going into
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  the, the lending side of things was it was great and it was good
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  to be away from home. I mean, I didn't have to deal
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  with customers when it was time to crack down.
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  It wasn't my neighbor, it wasn't a customer at the market or what
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  not. So it was good to be away, but
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  it was also great for them the connections that I made back
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  there. And, and I'm like I said, I
• 12:03
  still talk to a lot of them guys and, and we get, we get cattle
• 12:06
  from back there. I mean, there's some of those,
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  my buddies from back there, they'll load their cabs up on a,
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  on a truck, ship them to us. I mean, it's 3 1/2 hours, but
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  it's some people that's not very far in North Central Kansas.
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  That's a long ways to ship, ship a calf.
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  So but but yeah, we, we get some of them cattle from back there
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  off of that. And, and it's, it's, I mean,
• 12:25
  like I said, it's, it was just, it was the route that needed to
• 12:28
  be taken at the time. It wasn't what I wanted, but it
• 12:32
  was it was the best thing that needed to happen.
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  And I think that's important that what you just said that it
• 12:36
  wasn't the path that you wanted, but it was the one that you
• 12:39
  needed to take. And I think a lot of people have
• 12:41
  stories that can relate to that. Can you share a little bit more
• 12:44
  about you were you were gone, Grandpa sold the business?
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  What what was that like of kind of seeing your dream be sold?
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  Luckily it was still kept a little bit in the family, but it
• 12:55
  looked different. Absolutely.
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  It was heart wrenching. I mean, it was like that's what
• 13:01
  I would look forward to from the day I knew what I was doing.
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  I mean, when I was 2 years old, I was at the market.
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  I mean, that's just what I did. I mean, I loved it and and
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  grandpa retired and was, was ready to sell it and it's like
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  you're going to do what? And I wasn't ready at that
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  point. I mean, I was two years into to
• 13:20
  a banking career and and it just wasn't ready.
• 13:23
  It wasn't time and it was heart wrenching It it really was.
• 13:27
  And and but knowing my mom, my mother was still involved was
• 13:31
  good and it was the way it worked out was great.
• 13:34
  I mean, it was, it was and have been better.
• 13:36
  I mean, it just couldn't have been better.
• 13:38
  So and I've got I've got three of the best partners in the man
• 13:42
  could ask for. And everybody says man, don't
• 13:44
  one someday like you like to own a market without partners.
• 13:47
  I'm like, Nope, couldn't do without them.
• 13:49
  Absolutely couldn't do without them.
• 13:51
  So it it's just got to have help and you got got to have good
• 13:55
  help and we've got good help and I've got good partners.
• 13:59
  Yes, especially when you're on the road for half of the week
• 14:02
  anyway, going to other markets and doing all of the other
• 14:05
  things. And I think that's one of the
• 14:06
  beautiful things of, you know, your story looked a little
• 14:10
  different than what you thought it was going to at 10 years old,
• 14:12
  but it all turned out exactly how it was supposed to in the
• 14:16
  end as well. Of you're able to.
• 14:19
  Like, if you had gotten it handed down to you, you probably
• 14:22
  wouldn't have opened yourself up to the idea of partners.
• 14:24
  And now you're probably able to run a better, more successful
• 14:28
  business because you have other people challenging you.
• 14:30
  You have other people giving their two cents and just pushing
• 14:34
  your business as it continues to grow too.
• 14:36
  Absolutely, absolutely, 100%. Yeah.
• 14:39
  Can you share what's what's next for you?
• 14:41
  What's the future hold for you and your family?
• 14:44
  Do you have any future aspirations in the auction
• 14:47
  business kind of share a little bit about all of that?
• 14:50
  I mean, I like I said, my family, my kids are 100 an hour
• 14:53
  all the time. I mean, we're this summer, we,
• 14:56
  we've got so my daughter's eight that we're in year 1 of 4H.
• 15:00
  We have 5 pigs. We have 4 steers and one heifer.
• 15:06
  We've we've got nominations in for the Kansas Junior Livestock
• 15:09
  Show. We got three pigs nominated.
• 15:11
  We got 3 steers nominated. Is like we got to slow down
• 15:14
  because dad's not home that much.
• 15:16
  But my wife does a great job. She gets the calves in the
• 15:19
  cooler. She walks the pigs.
• 15:21
  I mean, it's they, they just gets done.
• 15:25
  As far as the future with the market, I mean, we just were
• 15:28
  clicking along. We we're getting, seem to be
• 15:30
  getting along good. The, the cattle numbers are seem
• 15:33
  to be getting a little lighter in the country.
• 15:36
  Things are good here. I mean, I, we, it's, I, I'm sure
• 15:40
  there's going to be a bump in the road here before when you're
• 15:42
  not expecting it, but things are good right now and, and we just
• 15:45
  kind of keep, keep looking forward and dodge those bullets
• 15:48
  when we get there. Perfect.
• 15:50
  Well, do you have any last thoughts as we kind of close
• 15:53
  this out or any advice for others in the industry that
• 15:56
  you'd like to leave the podcast with?
• 15:59
  Looking for as far as what I'm looking forward to.
• 16:01
  I'm looking forward to the King of the Ring again.
• 16:02
  I've been contested in the World Livestock Auctioneer
• 16:04
  Championship with LMA for nine years now.
• 16:08
  Full night. I've competed 9 times and it's
• 16:11
  great but it's stressful. This will be my third or fourth
• 16:16
  time in the King of the Ring and it's not stressful.
• 16:19
  It's it's so much fun the way the way the winter family does
• 16:23
  the draw and and we get to invert the the draw and pick
• 16:26
  your spots. It's awesome.
• 16:27
  I love it. Come in there.
• 16:29
  It's just like you're sitting at home.
• 16:31
  You sell it, sell loads of cattle load after load of them
• 16:33
  and it's a great time. Younger people in the industry
• 16:36
  find a mentor and get involved. It's just it takes time.
• 16:41
  I mean it, it truly does every. I mean, that's like I said, I
• 16:44
  mean I owned the market and I wasn't selling my own market for
• 16:48
  5-6 years into it. I mean it you guys got, you've
• 16:51
  got to spend the time, do what you need to start at the bottom,
• 16:55
  come up, but but spend the time and do what do what?
• 16:58
  Do the right thing. Yes.
• 17:00
  Oh, that's such a great way to close out our conversation
• 17:03
  today. Neil, thank you so much for your
• 17:05
  time coming on, sharing your story, giving just a little bit
• 17:08
  of your thoughts and your piece of yourself to everyone that is
• 17:13
  listening to this. We really appreciate it and we
• 17:15
  cannot wait to see you next month at the King of the Ring
• 17:18
  contest. And as always, to all of our
• 17:20
  listeners out there, make sure you check out our show notes.
• 17:24
  Make sure you like, subscribe, do all the things, and check out
• 17:26
  the King of the Ring contest coming to Dodge City here in the
• 17:30
  next few weeks. So as always, have a great one
• 17:32
  y'all. We'll see you next time.