Latest / CattleUSA Daily / 311: Pinching Pennies, Chasing a Dream, Refusing to Quit: An Auctioneer’s Story with Justin Dodson

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311: Pinching Pennies, Chasing a Dream, Refusing to Quit: An Auctioneer’s Story with Justin Dodson · CattleUSA Daily

0:00
Today we are welcoming another one of our King of the Ring
0:02
contestants on to the podcast. Today, Justin Dodson is joining
0:07
us and Justin is here to share about his origin story.
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What brought this man to the life that he is living now as an
0:16
auctioneer and as a professional within the industry.
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Justin's story is 1 of perseverance, 1 of continuing to
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push through even when you don't have a yes and figuring it out
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along the way. Going from someone who was
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literally pinching pennies to living the life and the
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operation that his family has today.
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Before we hop into Justin's episode, if you're watching on
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YouTube, make sure you take a second to hit that subscribe
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button. And like this episode.
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If you're watching on any of our other podcast platforms, make
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sure you take a second to go follow the show rate and review
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it and share this episode with a friend if it was one that you
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enjoyed. Without further ado, let's go
0:53
ahead and hear from Justin Dodson.
0:58
Welcome to the Cattle USA Daily podcast, your go to source for
1:02
the latest livestock markets, industry insights and the
1:05
updates shaping agriculture today.
1:07
I'm your host, Lauren Moylan, a passionate advocate for
1:10
agriculture, here to keep you informed and connected.
1:13
Now let's dive into today's episode.
1:20
Justin, welcome to the podcast. I am so excited to have you on
1:24
today to hear more about your story and what got you started
1:27
in auctioneering. If you would just take it away
1:30
and share a little bit more about your origin story when you
1:33
got bit by the bug and what kind of that kind of looked like for
1:36
you and your life. Well, it started.
1:38
I was probably between 8 and 11 years old.
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I went to Texas with my dad. Dad and mom would go down there
1:45
and and he'd buy cattle and bring back to Osage County,
1:48
Oklahoma. So in eastern Texas and parts of
1:51
Louisiana, I'd sit there and play like I was buying cattle
1:54
and writing them down and and I got to listening to the
1:56
auctioneers, those southern auctioneers.
1:59
And I just fell in love with it. I thought this, this is what I
2:03
want to do. So I knew at a young.
2:04
Age, you know, that's that was my goal, but I somehow wanted to
2:08
be involved with cattle. So a livestock auctioneer is all
2:12
I ever dreamed of being. Well, after I went to school,
2:14
got out of school, I went to Quitman, TX to an auction
2:18
school. There was Colonel GAIL Ingram
2:21
put the school on. After auctioneer school, I come
2:24
back home here to Welch, OK. And we had moved from Behesta to
2:27
Welch in 8089, I believe. And I was, I was struggling.
2:32
I was struggling with my chant. I was practicing.
2:34
And I thought, something's not right.
2:36
I can't get the right feel of words.
2:38
I can't make it. Just couldn't make it click.
2:41
So Dad was kind of getting on to me.
2:43
And you know, I don't know if you're ever going to make it and
2:45
all this and that he was, it's kind of doom and gloom at times,
2:49
but he was one of those that give you that the tough love,
2:52
you know, and, and I just, it would make me mad.
2:54
So what I did, we had an old sound system from when we was at
2:58
the hustle. We had a lot of team ropings and
3:00
we had that sound system. So I went out to the hay barn
3:03
and I set it up and I practiced and I practiced so many hours in
3:07
the hay barn. I probably drove the mice crazy.
3:10
They probably left the barn because of listening.
3:12
To me, try to sell well. After that, Dad had talked to a
3:17
friend of his, EJ Chuck, from down around Pryor, Ola Mazie,
3:22
Oklahoma show dough in that area.
3:24
Him and his boys, Stanley and Dale had farm options, big
3:27
consignment options. EJ had a Monday night furniture
3:31
option, and of course they'd sell anything, you know.
3:34
So EJ let me come down and he called me his color blind
3:38
auctioneer and that is a the most embarrassed I'd ever been.
3:42
And that's probably a whole other podcast.
3:44
But anyway, it was a, it was great experience for me because
3:48
selling hammers and glassware and furniture and things that I
3:52
just absolutely despised that I did not like it, but I knew that
3:57
it was going to help me to learn to count, learn to deal with
4:00
people, you know, And so I would deal with the farmers and, and,
4:04
and things like that at the consignment auctions and the
4:06
farm sales. And then when I went to the, to
4:08
the furniture auction, we sold a lot of glassware and a lot of
4:12
times I would deal with, you know, a lot of elderly women.
4:15
So I had to change my chant. I couldn't go as fast.
4:18
Meantime, I was trying to kept doing that.
4:21
And then there's an old barn at Wells, Oklahoma, and Scott
4:25
Overman owned it and I worked for a year pulling the gate work
4:28
in the ring to get to sell a few the kill cows at the end of the
4:32
cell. So I boy, I, I, I was eating
4:35
that up. I just loved it.
4:36
And but I wasn't getting. Paid.
4:38
But then after, oh about a year, year and a year and a month or
4:43
two, he had a special cow cell and the other auctioneer was
4:46
late and he said get your rear end up there and start this
4:49
cell. Well, I ended up selling the
4:51
wholesale because the other auctioneer.
4:53
Coming in and he was mad to. See me in there and he left so
4:56
the rest is history. So I, I was able to get the job,
5:00
whatever day that was. I think it was Thursday's at the
5:02
time, but it didn't pay a lot. And in the meantime, I was still
5:07
helping EJ with his consignment sales and Stanley and Dale and
5:10
and any other, anyone else that needed anything.
5:13
If I could sell a, a labor auction or a pie auction or
5:16
anything, I jumped on it. But I still wasn't making very
5:19
much money. Well, I, I got to a good friend
5:23
of my dad's field tacket. He I went to Collinsville where
5:28
Bill was at and talked to him about what I was wanting to do.
5:32
And he sent me down in his office and talked to me about my
5:34
breathing and about the crowd that I was selling for and about
5:38
clarity. And he said come to Pryor at
5:40
that time, Bill tag at one of the guys I truly looked up to.
5:44
He would sell jars of honey on Monday and cattle Tuesday,
5:48
horses Wednesday and goats Thursday.
5:51
Then he sold, I think he sold the first million dollar horse
5:54
to the Queen of England used to sell third grade red horses.
5:57
So Bill was very talented and extremely well liked.
6:02
So Bill was one I really looked up to.
6:04
So his wife would clerk for him at prior Muskogee and and some
6:09
other places back in back then you didn't do a computer was
6:11
everything was still by hand. So Joyce had to be gone and he
6:14
said I need you in Pryor. He said, we'll let you sell some
6:17
kill cows maybe if they're towards the end, but Joyce is
6:20
for some reason she had to be gone.
6:22
So I went down and I clerked and so I had to write the back tag
6:25
numbers down the price, the buyer and and you talk about, I
6:29
think every young auctioneer should have to do that because I
6:32
learned real quick that fast-paced cattle auctioneer,
6:35
you better be paying attention, buddy.
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You got to get that tag number down if you write it all in.
6:40
The description of the cow and then passing it to the to the
6:43
gentleman that was way on the cow.
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Well, I realized real quick, I need to be how important a clerk
6:48
was. And Bill would let me sell some
6:49
kill cows and then they'd I'd be kicking right along the one and
6:52
they bid me 1/4 and I'd have to stop and think, you know, 35 1/2
6:57
or 353635 and a quarter 1/4. So I had to it was it was all
7:00
happening really fast. And I'm so thankful for Bill for
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letting me get that, that opportunity and kind of keep
7:06
fast forwarding. I'm still about that time I got
7:10
to go to Coffeyville, KS and I would work for Jim Miller and
7:14
Jake Williams up there. They had two established
7:17
auctioneers that were very good and but I'd work the ring again
7:21
and hopefully get to sell a few. Cows at the end.
7:24
Well, I guess I was improving, but nobody seemed to want to.
7:28
Some of the auctioneers didn't want to give me a lot of advice,
7:30
didn't want me to. You know, I'd think, OK, here's
7:32
the steel cows, It's my turn to sell, but we may get down to the
7:35
last 10 before they let me sell. Well, I didn't realize this, but
7:39
I think maybe I was a little better than I thought I was.
7:42
You know, I didn't think I was any good at all, but there was
7:45
a, a little bit of a jealousy I felt like from some of the older
7:48
auctioneers. And I don't see that as much in
7:51
today's times. But years later, one of those
7:55
auctioneers come up to me and shook my hand and said, you
7:57
know, I could have been better to you.
7:58
I could have helped you a little more.
8:00
And we have become very good friends and and I truly.
8:03
Respect him for for that, but he was on top of his game and he
8:06
was a very good auctioneer and we're I won't say no.
8:09
Names, but we are, we are, we're good friends and and everything.
8:13
But so I always told myself at that time, if I ever get to
8:17
where I can help a young optioneer, I'm going to do
8:20
anything I can. To to to help a young optioneer
8:23
about that. Time I met my wife and we got
8:27
married. She was working and wasn't
8:30
making a lot of money. I was not making very much money
8:33
at all. And I was helping.
8:34
EJI was trying to work at Welch. I was trying to go to Coffee
8:38
Beal. I would go to Muskogee or Pryor
8:41
or maybe Tulsa to try to help Beal any way I could.
8:45
But I didn't. I was about to starve to death.
8:48
So I told Kim, I said. We had a talk, I said.
8:51
And I think we were married in May and she was pregnant in June
8:54
and. We got sick, honey, We're going
8:57
to starve to death. We we've got, we've got to do
8:59
something different. I said I'm getting paid nothing.
9:02
Or I mean, it's, it's just we're we're really.
9:04
Struggling and she took me by the hand and.
9:08
She said sorry, he said. You hang in there, you give it
9:12
six more months, see what happens.
9:14
So about 3 weeks later John Fox called me.
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John Fox was a cattle trader and order buyer.
9:23
John said hey John Fox here. I said yes Sir.
9:26
John how are you? He said they need an auctioneer
9:28
at Springdale, AR get down there next Friday morning.
9:31
I didn't know where I was going or anything.
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I said yes Sir I'll be there. Didn't know where I was going.
9:35
Well from Wells, Oklahoma to Springdale, AR it's it's up and
9:39
down there surround. There was no easy way to get
9:41
there. I left like 4 hours before I had
9:43
to because I didn't know where I was going.
9:45
And you know you didn't have them.
9:47
GPS isn't everything so I'm stopping.
9:48
Open it every little. Convenience store.
9:50
Do you know where the stock yard is at?
9:52
You know? Well, I got there and they let
9:54
me sell. And at the time it was Harold
9:56
Sergeant David Kidd and Rusty Stone were the owners and Rusty
10:00
and David could both auctioneer and sell.
10:02
But they put me in there and Harold was pretty gruff, pretty
10:08
rough, and he would straighten a young auctioneer out real quick.
10:11
And he talked to me a little bit.
10:12
I said, well, I, I want to be like Bill Tack and I want to be
10:15
like Kenny Wilcox. And he goes, well, that's,
10:18
that's pretty good company there, boy, that's pretty good
10:20
company. And I don't know if Ken, I don't
10:22
know if, if Harold still knows my name because he called me
10:25
boy. Well, one day I'm sitting there
10:27
selling and he said, Hey, boy, boy, open to my eyes, look over
10:29
there. And he said, what's that man
10:31
over there? And he said, boy, pay attention.
10:33
He said, boy, do you know that you're sitting in the same chair
10:36
that Kenny Wilcox sets in? And I, I, I loved it.
10:41
I loved that, that toughness and him being rough on me because I
10:45
think Rusty would tell me. He said, hey, I'll be back here
10:49
in 30 minutes and I'll I'll spell you for 4 1/2 hours later.
10:53
Rusty, come back and spell me. He said get your butt back up
10:55
here. I got to go back and sort
10:57
cattle. Well, in Springdale, AR you sell
10:59
lots of singles. So it would last.
11:01
Way up into the mornings, you know?
11:03
And I credit Springdale, AR for making me an auctioneer because
11:08
my voice was a little higher pitched.
11:10
But I sold so many hours I felt like I can't open my mouth and
11:14
say another. Word.
11:16
You know, I was so exhausted about that time, Siloam Springs
11:20
called me Paul Vaughn and Danny Smith, wonderful man.
11:23
So I went to work down there. Well, no, let me take it back.
11:26
I went down there and tried out and they had Todd Tucker come up
11:31
and sold. And Todd was.
11:33
A Oh, he was a good auctioneer and it still is.
11:36
I haven't seen Todd in years, but he's a, he's a, he's a great
11:39
guy, good auctioneer, got to sell a lot of horses.
11:41
Well, Todd Pratt, we both tried out.
11:43
Of course Todd blew me out of the water and they hired Todd,
11:46
but about 7 or 8-9 months later they called me back because
11:50
Todd's went to sell a lot more horse sales and he was making
11:54
more money. So Todd went on to that.
11:56
So they hired me there. About that time I was selling at
11:59
Siloam Springs. I'll never forget this.
12:02
And a man come in there, his name was Ray Winter.
12:04
Ray come in and sit down up there and sit there most of the
12:08
day. And I noticed him sitting there
12:10
and he talked to several of the buyers, you know, and talked to
12:12
a few people and just just a nice dress, nice looking man.
12:16
And I thought was that man going to buy a kettle?
12:17
I had no idea who he was, but the sale was he sits there for
12:21
five hours and he got up and left while I got home that night
12:24
and the phone rang and it was Ray Winter and Ray said, young
12:28
man, I need help for a few months at Enid.
12:30
OK. I said yes Sir.
12:31
He said are you interested to come out here?
12:33
So I said yes Sir. I mean we were we needed the
12:36
money. So I drove a little Saturn car.
12:39
They don't even make them anymore.
12:39
My wife's little Saturn car that she drove to work and she drove
12:42
my pickup because a lot of times she would go with me.
12:45
But because it got it got like 35 miles to Gala and we so you
12:50
we were and pennies. So I drove out there to Enid and
12:53
I worked with Clay Myers Clay and Ray after the sale, he Ray
12:58
had called me in the office and he said, you know, he talked to
13:01
me about, look, we're not just selling cattle.
13:03
We're here to market these cattle.
13:05
We're here to we're here to work for the seller.
13:07
Ray was one of the first ones to ever really talk to me about
13:11
getting all I could get for the cattle.
13:13
And he said, I sold there a few weeks and he said, I need you to
13:16
go to Dodge City. I said yes, Sir.
13:18
So I got to go to Dodge City and sell with the one and only Roger
13:22
Amick and all my lands. I was just, I thought I have
13:25
arrived, you know, I'm selling with Roger Amick.
13:28
And so Roger told me several pointers and talked to me and
13:33
his wife at the time become friends with Kim and and so I
13:36
got to go to Dodge City just a few times, right.
13:38
Roger was the main auctioneer, but and just help him out on
13:42
really big sales. And then Ray offered me a job.
13:44
He said, look, I want to I want you to live somewhere out here,
13:48
work at Enid, OK Dodge City, KS La Hana, Colorado.
13:52
Well, we had just, I had received a little bit of
13:54
inheritance from great grandpa and we had took that money and
13:58
bought a place. Welch and Kim's real close with
14:01
her folks. And I turned it down, even
14:05
though I was broke as I was, I've wandered over the years,
14:08
you know, I was like, Lord prayed about it.
14:09
I said, I don't know what to do, you know, So, but Needless to
14:13
say, I stayed in this area and I another thing I wanted to do
14:18
when I was becoming auctioneer, I didn't want to have to travel
14:22
long, long distances and but I wanted to help to build a cattle
14:26
business because I didn't, I thought, well, I won't be able
14:27
to auctioneer forever. I need something to fall back
14:30
on. So we had a little handful of
14:32
cows would try to keep in crew proving our Cal calf numbers
14:35
and, and I stayed here. Then Jimmy folk at South
14:39
Coffeyville called me and he already had an auctioneer, but
14:43
he wanted me to work the ring, sell some cows, spell the other
14:47
auctioneer some. So that worked out good.
14:49
So I was there and I was with Jimmy quite a few years and then
14:52
I left and went somewhere else and I actually come back and
14:55
work for him for twice and I was with him up until the time he
14:58
sold the barn. About that time.
15:00
Things are starting to really roll and pick up and I, I'm no
15:03
longer at Springdale. I'm at Siloam Springs, South
15:06
Coffeyville, OK, and four straight dockyards.
15:09
I'm in Missouri, called a John Bartos, I'll never forget.
15:13
So I went up and tried out and I met the great Lanny Ireland and
15:18
Lanny and I later become Lanny moved on to something else.
15:21
They hired me on Tuesdays. Then they hired me to sell their
15:24
Monday night cow sale. So I was Monday, Tuesday, I was
15:28
off Wednesday and I was selling Thursday, Friday.
15:30
All of a sudden I've got 4 sales week.
15:32
We've got another baby on the way.
15:34
So Kim's, Kim's kind of right there at that time.
15:36
She's mom and daddy because I got to sell in five sales a week
15:39
and sometimes 6. And then so she's taking care of
15:42
the cattle. She's beginning to start a
15:44
nursery and a tree business there at the house.
15:46
So things are really starting to move for us.
15:48
And but John Bartols since I was selling money on Tuesday, that
15:52
was the highest paying sale I've ever had.
15:55
But we were starting to get on our feet and there for a few
15:58
years and then John sold the barn.
16:00
So I thought, Oh my land, here we go again.
16:02
I am out of a job two days a week and I'll be darned if
16:07
Russell McKee Parsons, KS called me and him and his brother
16:11
Martin Key on the barn and I went up because another
16:14
auctioneer that I looked up to Bill Gates, Bill was there and
16:18
Bill was retiring. He was just going to do some
16:20
farm sales and things like that. I'll never forget they said,
16:24
well, we got whoever takes Bill's place is going to have
16:27
some really big shoes to fill. And they, everybody turned,
16:29
looked at me. Oh boy, I got my work cut out
16:33
from me here. But it clicked out.
16:35
It just worked great. Russell was great to work with.
16:38
Later on, Mark bought him out. And so I worked with Mark up
16:42
until Mark sold the sale and then I worked for Wade
16:44
Dillinger. So I was at Parsons, KS for
16:47
about 20-3 or four years before I finally was kind of forced to
16:52
quit. And I'll get to that in a
16:53
moment. But when I started working
16:56
there, the first LMA competition I went to, to be a world
16:59
champion was at Fort Pierre, SD in 1997.
17:03
Of course, I went up there and they just, I got in the bottom
17:06
third, you know, I wasn't, they kind of put me in my shoe, put
17:09
me in my place really quick. But I'd always looked up those
17:14
world champion auctioneers and right after I back up a little
17:17
bit, right after I'd got out of auctioneer school, I think it
17:19
was, I was like maybe 91, I called Kenneth Wilcox and at the
17:24
time I don't even know how I got his number.
17:26
And I called him relatively late at night.
17:28
It was. And it was when he was still in
17:32
Amarillo, I believe. I believe Kenny was still living
17:34
there. And he answered and he talked to
17:35
me 30 or 40 minutes, didn't know me from no one, but you know,
17:39
that man took the time to visit with me and talk to me.
17:43
So I asked him. Last year was the first time I'd
17:45
went to the King of the ring. I said, Kenny, do you Remember
17:48
Me calling you? And he goes, no, I don't
17:50
remember. I said, well, boy, I do.
17:52
And I said I really appreciate it.
17:53
You know, he he didn't. I'm sure he had all kinds of
17:56
calls from young auctioneers, but you know, he took the time
17:58
to visit with me and I, I've always looked up to him for
18:01
that. Later on, we got to work some
18:03
together and, and we, we just become good friends, you know,
18:07
since then. But my second year at the world
18:11
in Sedalia, MO, I made the top ten.
18:13
And boy, I thought, hot dog, this is this is great.
18:17
And so I, I, I wanted to be a world champion so bad, just I
18:22
thought if I can be a world champion, I used to like to rope
18:24
and I was decent, but I would never good enough to be a world
18:27
champion. So I, I kept with my wife
18:30
supports kept following me the whole, the whole part about it,
18:33
the trips, ever trips she ever went with me on, I think except
18:36
one. But in the meantime, the kids
18:38
are growing, our cattle business is growing.
18:39
And then my son would buy other days that I wasn't selling, I'd
18:43
go and try to buy cattle and things.
18:44
And my son in school would go, hey, Dad, he'd be texting me.
18:49
And I thought, aren't you? She's supposed to be in class
18:51
right now. Yeah, but what, what'd you get
18:53
bought today or what'd you sell or what?
18:55
You know? So I'm like, he's got the bug
18:57
too. So he went on to become an
19:01
auctioneer. And now he just got hired at the
19:03
Chopping Regional Stockyards. He's one of their auctioneers.
19:05
So I'm proud of him for that. But our daughter, our oldest,
19:08
our daughter, she's in Nixon, Missouri.
19:09
And we have 4 grandsons, Kim and I've been married 33 years this
19:14
year, I guess. And so I work with Art, my son
19:19
on here on our cattle ranch and he has just taken a hold of it.
19:23
And together we've, we've, we run several 1000 cattle now,
19:28
stalkers, feeders, cattle, got cattle and grow yards and
19:31
several, you know, a couple 1000 cows.
19:34
So it's nonstop and as I, we got to sell in those five and six
19:39
cells a week. Well, I did that for many years
19:41
and I got to heaven a few voice problems.
19:43
So I thought I better, I better look at this, you know, when I
19:47
cut back to like 3 cells a week and, and then sell stuff for Cal
19:50
cells. Well, the doctor told me, he
19:53
said, you've got some, the best way to describe it was like
19:56
calluses on my voice, on my, on my vocal cords.
19:59
And so we got that taken care of.
20:01
And he said you need to slow down, you need to not sell those
20:05
910. Our sales, you know where you're
20:09
sitting there, you're the only auctioneer.
20:10
Well, in the South kind of where we're at for all those years,
20:14
those owners only wanted one auctioneer.
20:16
They didn't want to get you no help.
20:18
They wanted you to sell the whole thing.
20:20
And I think the longest I ever sold was 14 hours straight.
20:26
I was either South Coffeyville, OK or Parsons, KS, I don't
20:29
remember where, But so then I had to decide, OK, what am I
20:33
going to do? Is this going to be the end of
20:35
my auctioneer career? What, what do I need to do?
20:38
So I, I decided, OK, I'm going to have to let Parsons go.
20:42
And I really hated to because I've been there so many years
20:45
with, with Wade and with Mark and Russell and, and Mark jump
20:50
back to his support. He was always great to support
20:52
me in the, in the LMA and to become a world champion.
20:55
There was one time after after I had made the top 10 and I think
21:01
I got my results and I was fourth.
21:03
I didn't get in the top three and I was born.
21:04
I was down. I was a dead gimmick.
21:06
Mark he, he said I'm going to tell you something.
21:08
He said if LMA and he said if the judges could see what.
21:12
You do for. Me on sale day, he said you'd
21:16
already been a world champion. He said I can leave the sale.
21:19
He said you know how to take care of it.
21:21
He said, you know our customers, you know you promote their
21:24
cattle the right way, you handle the buyers right way, you handle
21:27
everything right. And he said, if we're in a tough
21:30
market, I've never seen someone tighten their belt and work as
21:33
hard for the producers as what you do.
21:35
I said, well, thank you. So that was cool.
21:38
I, I've always appreciated that. Back to my, my voice and stuff.
21:42
I, I decided that doctor said, well, you need to give a break.
21:45
You need to sell one day, skip the next day.
21:47
He said, maybe cut it down to about two sales a week.
21:49
So that's what I'm doing right now.
21:51
I'm at 4 State Stockyards at Exeter, MO on Tuesdays with
21:55
Chris Keeling and Kate Hammond and the entire Hammond family.
21:59
We'd be here 20 minutes if I named all the Hammonds.
22:01
There's so many of them, but they're, they're great Christian
22:03
people. They're they're, they're a great
22:05
place to work for. I, I really enjoy it.
22:07
And then on Thursdays I sell for Tyler Leighton and Doug King,
22:10
Coffeyville, KS, Kind of one of the places I got started.
22:13
I'm sell their Cal sale and so I work with them guys, they're
22:17
super to work with. They kind of let me have the
22:19
reins and you know, if they need to let me know something, they
22:24
do it and I just kind of take control.
22:25
I start the cattle and sell the cows, tell them what I knew
22:28
about them and just just act like I own the place.
22:30
And you know, another thing is as I was.
22:33
Talking to other fellow auctioneers, a lot of the
22:36
northern auctioneers from the. Dakotas and Nebraska and Wyoming
22:39
and places, they said, I can't believe that you sell sales so
22:43
close. Together because I might be at
22:45
Parsons, KS Wednesday S Coffeyville Friday or go help my
22:49
friend at Coffeyville, KS. If Brian needed me help him, I
22:52
go help him because Brian and I that's a whole another podcast.
22:55
Oh my, we were we were such good friends and and did so much
22:59
business together. We started feeding cattle
23:01
together. Like I said, I better go back
23:02
like I'll get off on me and Brian or Brian and I but anyway,
23:06
I I didn't realize how I never how do I say this?
23:10
I, the northern offshoers, told me.
23:12
To they couldn't sell sales that was close to that close together
23:15
because Parsons and. And South Coffeyville may just
23:18
be 50 miles as a crow would fly, you know.
23:21
But when I one thing I always told myself and, and Bill
23:24
Tackett taught me this, if I'm at Parsons, Kansas working for
23:28
Wade Dillinger or whoever I'm working for, I'm 100% their
23:33
auctioneer that day. I'm and Lauren, if you're
23:35
selling your cattle at Parsons, I'm getting everything I can
23:38
give your cattle at Parsons because I'm working for you.
23:41
And the one I'm at South Coffee Deal, if I'm helping Jim folk,
23:45
I'm working for Jim. Jim can set out, he can go to
23:48
the restroom, go take care of a problem.
23:50
I'll continue to start the cattle, make sure then cattle
23:52
bring what they need to bring. And, and you know, I've never
23:54
had anybody question me on that. It's always been a just a part
23:57
of, I thought integrity and, and and a part of what you needed to
24:00
do for the people you work for. And and that by me handling.
24:05
Business that way I guess is why I was able to sell at Parsons
24:08
and another barn 50 miles away at South Coffeyville.
24:12
And then if Brian needed me, well on Thursday I might be up
24:15
there helping Brian, which is just three or four miles from
24:17
South Coffeyville. But I never had a Everybody
24:20
supported me and and they knew when I was helping them that day
24:23
I was 100%. For for that owner of that.
24:26
Market and so I've been blessed that I didn't have to travel
24:30
long distances because I've turned down.
24:33
Like I said. I don't know.
24:34
Who would turn down Ray Winter, you know?
24:36
For a permanent position, who would turn down Oklahoma City?
24:39
It was offered to me twice, the wonderful Jerry 9 at Woodward.
24:43
I went out and sold for Jerry and he offered me a job and it's
24:46
like. Almost six hours out there and
24:50
our kids at the time were in school and they were athletic
24:53
kids. And I thought, I just don't want
24:55
to miss that stuff, you know? And, and our cattle business was
24:58
growing. So I've turned down more good
25:01
jobs probably than any other auctioneer.
25:03
But so I've been so blessed, you know, to be able to work close
25:07
to home, build our cattle business along with my son.
25:11
Now it's just doubled since he's joined and.
25:13
Still sell sales, and then even after my voice problems, I feel
25:16
like I'm kind of making a comeback.
25:18
I was fortunate to do well in the League of Their Own this
25:21
past weekend, getting 2nd place there behind the great Blaine
25:25
Lots. So I'm selling Tuesdays,
25:28
Thursdays, keeping myself fresh for some competitions and some
25:33
special chaos sales. Heck, life's good.
25:35
I'm just, I'm blessed. I'm a blessed man.
25:37
Wow, I love everything about your story.
25:41
I would love to hear you had mentioned earlier in your story
25:44
how much you love also mentoring the next generation coming in as
25:48
well. And I think you have such a
25:49
powerful story from like you said earlier, going from that
25:53
conversation with your wife of honey.
25:56
I don't know if we can do this anymore.
25:57
Like I've got to make us money. We're pinching penny like this
26:00
is we're in the trenches to the life that you have now.
26:04
What kind of words of advice do you have for young auctioneers
26:09
or just auctioneers in the business?
26:10
But maybe you're having those conversations of I just don't
26:13
know if I can do it anymore. Well, pretty honest with them.
26:15
And I'm, I'm pretty blunt with them about it because I, I-1
26:19
come over just the other day at the house and interviewed me for
26:21
a, for a school project. And I told him, I said it's,
26:24
it's very difficult. And I said there's other auction
26:27
or other things that you can sell to make more money than you
26:31
can as a cattle auctioneer used to the cattle auctioneers wasn't
26:34
paid very well, but you know, I'm very thankful for the way
26:37
we're paid now. But I have advised guys, you
26:40
know, get your real estate license, be a real estate
26:43
auctioneer, go sell cars, go sell automobiles.
26:45
I have very many, lots of friends who are car auctioneers
26:49
and but some of them sell cattle or got their cut their teeth and
26:52
cattle and they went to selling the cars and, and if I had it to
26:56
do all over again, I might pursue the auto auctions more.
26:59
But my wife said no, no, that would not be good because then
27:03
we'd have a car lot somewhere. Said.
27:05
Well, probably. So I said you, you're right.
27:08
So anyway, but I've had a lot of young auctioneers tell me and
27:12
Chuck Bradley and he's going to be at the competition.
27:15
King of the ring. Chuck and I have become good
27:16
friends and Chuck will send us some cattle out of the out of
27:20
his part of the world sometimes. So Chuck and I, we, we joke with
27:24
each other a lot. But Chuck said, you know, he
27:26
said I used to watch tapes of you, LMA tapes of you.
27:30
And he said I just loved the way you sold.
27:32
Now, maybe he was just trying to get brownie points with me.
27:35
I don't know. But but I've had a lot of young
27:38
auctioneers say they watched my tape tapes or YouTube and things
27:42
like that. And when I started, you know,
27:44
there was no YouTube, There was none of that stuff to.
27:46
So I, I really, it was hard for me to get going.
27:50
I feel like everything's nothing's ever come easy, I
27:52
guess. But I've had a few auctioneers.
27:55
There's one young man that I work with on Tuesdays.
27:57
He is turning into a great auctioneer.
28:00
He does things and I'll listen to him and I'll go now, who does
28:03
that sound like? You know, I think that sounds
28:04
like me. That sounds like something I do.
28:07
But Brent is doing a great job. Ross Parks over in Ohio, wants
28:10
to be a world champion so bad. I've talked to Ross many times.
28:14
He's come to the house. We was at the border wars
28:17
auctioneer competition. There's a young man from you go
28:22
Oklahoma to talk to me and, and I give, you know, I, I try to
28:25
give them all the pointers I can.
28:27
And I've told him, I said, look, you call me anything I can help
28:30
you with anything that comes up during the auction that you're
28:33
like, how do I handle this situation?
28:35
I said, I've probably seen about it.
28:38
Any kind of a situation that can come up during auction, it can
28:40
happen. And I said just just, you know,
28:43
so I give them all the advice I can, whether it's sealer words
28:47
or whether it's how to handle a problem.
28:49
What would you do in this situation?
28:50
I get a lot of those. Well, how would you handle this?
28:52
How, what should I do here? And, and you know, some of the
28:55
younger auctioneers, I've told him you have to be really
28:58
careful how you say something to one of your buyers.
29:01
I said because you're you're 24 years old.
29:04
I'm 56 years old. If you say that the wrong way,
29:08
you got to be careful not to come across as a part of my
29:11
language as a smart aleck auctioneer.
29:13
I toned that down a little smarter like auctioneer.
29:15
You don't want to. You got to.
29:17
You want to earn the respect you want to.
29:19
One time I made Denny Rizak so mad.
29:22
He had he bought a lot of cattle.
29:23
And he was a Delaine, excuse me, but Delaine, it was Denny's dad.
29:26
It was Delaine Rizak. He threw his cards up in the
29:29
air. Cards went everywhere.
29:31
And Jim looked over at me, said, well, boy, you pissed him off.
29:34
And I did. So I've had every butt chewing
29:39
you can get. So I'm trying to help them young
29:43
guys to avoid so is getting in trouble with their buyers, you
29:47
know, or, or how do you represent these cattle the right
29:50
way? And how do you handle a a
29:53
producer that that's got a 550 LB calf and his neighbors got a
29:57
£550 calf. Why did his not bring what his
30:01
neighbors? Well, you know, and I'm saying,
30:03
well, some of them may not realize that this calf's not
30:05
weaned as long that he's flashy, he's got a lot more meat on him.
30:08
This calf over here is 90 days wean and he's green, he's thin.
30:11
He's going to hit the ground running where this calf will go
30:13
backwards before he goes forward.
30:15
You know, from things to do with cattle, their chant.
30:18
And I think the most important thing I've tell young
30:22
auctioneers, you've got to know the value.
30:25
You've got to know the value of what you're selling.
30:28
Whether you're selling real estate, antiques, cars, cattle,
30:32
it doesn't matter. You need to know the value.
30:35
And I've tried to talk to him about their demeanor behind the
30:38
mic, things to do. Be careful about the jokes.
30:41
Be careful about too many things.
30:43
And some of them get wild with their hands, you know, and I
30:45
tell them, hey, if you want to, you want to go and compete.
30:48
And I've, these were all mistakes I've made.
30:50
So I, I'm thinking, hey, don't make them that I've made.
30:54
But I love, I love to talk to the young auctioneers,
30:56
especially because there wasn't a lot of older auctioneers that,
30:59
that kind of took me under their wing.
31:01
Besides, really, Bill Tackett, Jake Williams would stand behind
31:04
me at 'cause if they want to talk.
31:05
To me he. Would be talking while I was
31:08
selling and and he would say, don't forget Rizak's going to
31:11
buy every. He's going to be on almost
31:13
almost every £500 hair for that comes in.
31:14
He's going to be on every £700 hair for that comes in.
31:17
When them cattle come in, they're the first guys you look
31:19
at. Then you know, this man's going
31:20
to buy 1, you know. So he, he would make things
31:22
easier for me and I was able to listen to him talk to me while I
31:27
was while I was selling and I loved that.
31:30
Now I guess it that happened to me at a young age and I guess
31:33
now like the clerk can be talking to the Pinner about
31:37
something that happened 2 sets of calico and I can be selling
31:40
and I know I know the answer to the question.
31:42
He changed it from 55 to 65 you know boom and just tell them and
31:47
keep selling. They go oh what we should ask
31:48
Justin. Well, I was still selling, but I
31:50
could tell him what to do So I can.
31:52
My wife said you can multitask so well, I go, well, I guess I
31:56
just from early training, you know what, the only thing that
31:59
bothers me when I'm selling for is background noise is when if
32:03
you get guys from the outside, come in behind you and go to
32:05
talking real loud because I'm so focused on my clerk and my
32:08
Pinner, the cattle I'm selling and my buyers, you know, so I
32:12
want to keep everything straight.
32:13
So I'm really it's all business when I'm behind the mic, you
32:15
know, so sometimes I'll have to, hey, go outside, shut that door,
32:19
you know, further background noise.
32:20
But I still love it. I I enjoy it.
32:23
I've been fortunate to, I think, I think I'm like 14 times the
32:27
top ten in the world. 2 runner up, world champions, 2 reserve
32:30
world champions Last year, reserve at King of the Ring,
32:33
which I was, I was shocked. I was happy with that.
32:35
This year I won board awards at Bowling Green, MO Michael,
32:41
Laurie, Cody, they're awesome up there, Great cool contest League
32:45
of their own. I just was reserved there behind
32:47
Blaine and Russell. Sleep was the runner up behind
32:51
me and and it was just great auctioneers and that as I walked
32:54
out, somebody said, well, you're second again.
32:58
I I've had so many times I've been second.
33:00
He said, he said, you're always the bridesmaid, you're never the
33:03
bride. And I go, you know, I used to
33:05
bother me, but but that that's OK.
33:07
That means I'm consistent. So I, they've called me Mr.
33:10
Consistent in a few times and you know that that's OK.
33:13
And if I'm never a world champion, you know, it's all
33:15
right. It's OK Just we've been blessed.
33:18
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that your entire
33:21
story is kind of a story of continuing to persevere,
33:24
continuing to push through the times where you're pinching
33:26
pennies, continuing to push through the times where you were
33:28
let go from Barnes or where Barnes closed and you had to
33:31
move around and do different things and things like that.
33:34
But one thing about your story, too, is that you've had a pretty
33:37
close relationship with the Winter family for a really long
33:40
time. And so can you talk a little bit
33:42
about King of the Ring as a contestant, but then also kind
33:45
of what King of the Ring means to you?
33:46
You as far as kind of what they're doing in the legacy and
33:49
things like that as well. Love the legacy of it.
33:52
And of course, I think Kenny told me that and I didn't know
33:54
that this was one of Rodger Amick's dreams was this contest
33:57
and, and to set up there again, it's like you almost feel like
34:00
Rodgers with you, you know, and I didn't get to sell with Rodger
34:03
a lot, but I truly I I, I traced the moments that I was able to
34:08
spend with him. And this contest, just the king
34:11
of the ring, just the name of it, you quality of auctioneers,
34:15
the former world champions. And since I'm not a world
34:18
champion, to be able to go and compete against one, I'm so
34:21
competitive, you know, just like A league of their own.
34:23
It's like I want to beat one of them world champions, you know?
34:26
I'm going to give it to them guys because they've give it to
34:28
me so many times, you know, but and, and another thing is it was
34:32
special to me because of, of Ray winter and I met Mark and, and
34:37
Brian and, and Weston was there and I was there as a young
34:40
auctioneer. So to meet those guys and see
34:43
what they're doing and how they've continued the, the
34:46
winter livestock, that legacy and build that thing and, and
34:49
just work so hard and to showcase the auctioneers, show
34:52
our talents and, and what a, that's something that I, I love
34:56
the way they show the vital role that we have as auctioneers in
34:59
the livestock industry. And Ray would take me in his
35:02
office and I, he said, close the door.
35:04
So I thought, oh boy, you know, he had a way of just chewing my
35:08
butt. But, but I, I took that
35:11
criticism. I took it as a corrective
35:13
criticism to make me better. Everything he did and everything
35:16
he told me was to make me a better auctioneer.
35:18
And, and, and you know what? I've told that to young
35:20
auctioneers. I've told that when they asked
35:22
me, I said, now listen, you've got to be able to take
35:23
criticism. You've got to be able to take
35:26
it. If I'm listening to you sale,
35:28
and you need to change something in your chant, I'm not
35:31
belittling you. I'm trying to help you.
35:33
And that's what Ray did for me. He tried to help me.
35:35
He said you need to make work on this, clear this up a little
35:40
bit. When I first went, I'll never
35:41
forget my hair. It was back in the, the, the
35:45
early, late 80s and the early 90s.
35:46
You know, we all had the mullet, which it's kind of come back
35:48
now. And I had that old long hair
35:50
down here. And he said, you know, one thing
35:52
that might help you if you cut that hair a little bit, it'd
35:54
sure look a little better. And I laughed at it.
35:56
But I promise you one thing. The next time I see Ray, my hair
35:59
was kind of a little shorter, and I was.
36:01
Just a little bit sharper and a little bit neater.
36:03
And, and you know, 1, I had a guy tell me, why wouldn't I go?
36:07
No, no, this man's trying to help me.
36:09
And, but what they've done with King of the Ring is just, it's,
36:13
it's a, it's fabulous, it's amazing.
36:15
And I, I had the best time out there for the first couple years
36:19
they had it. I never got a call.
36:20
And I was like, I was kind of heartbroken.
36:22
I thought, how do you get in there?
36:24
No one's called me, you know, is it invitation?
36:26
And I, so I got to send them out.
36:28
Hey, if they need someone, they can call that boy from northeast
36:31
Oklahoma Old Dotson. He'd he'd be.
36:33
Out here in a a. Heartbeat you know like let me
36:35
in coach let me in and finally last year I've got a call and I
36:39
was like I was jumping for joy I almost jumped through the phone
36:42
like put me in I'm ready yeah put my name in and anyway I just
36:46
jumped on it so fast they. Didn't even get to Harley.
36:48
Asked me would you like to go before they finished I said yes,
36:52
yes, yes, you know so just to. Get to go back to dodge was was
36:55
special for me. Yeah, well, we cannot wait to
37:00
have you in Dodge City once again this year to be competing.
37:04
And it was just so much fun, Justin, to be able to sit here
37:08
and hear your story today and where you came from and what
37:12
made you the auctioneer that you are today and really be able to
37:16
just understand you more as a person because of all that.
37:19
I love hearing all of your stories and hearing more about
37:22
it. But unfortunately, I think we
37:25
could sit here and we could talk all day and hear all things and
37:28
all the stories and all I you know what?
37:31
I do want to hear about some of the crazy things that you've
37:33
seen in the sale barn. But we would be here until
37:36
Timbuktu if we did the 10. What?
37:39
I'll tell you why when I when I see you in dodge, I'll get with
37:42
I'll try to find you and I'll tell you why.
37:45
Why, why EJ Chuck calls me the colorblind auctioneer.
37:49
It is hilarious. It was very embarrassing.
37:51
I shared it with my wife and she said I'm not surprised, you
37:54
know, but anyway, it's it's another one of those funny
37:57
stories that happens from from being an auctioneer.
38:00
But I have truly enjoyed it. Lauren, thank you for your time
38:02
and and let me be a part of your podcast.
38:04
Yes, thank you, Justin. Well, to all of our listeners
38:07
out there, if you guys want to hear Justin can MP in King of
38:10
the Ring, make sure that you check out the show notes down
38:12
below where we have all of the information on that contest, how
38:16
you can TuneIn remotely, how you can find out more information on
38:19
it and all of the things like that.
38:21
Justin, thank you for your time and to all of you audience
38:23
members, we will see you all next time on another episode of
38:26
the Cattle USA Daily podcast. Have a good one y'all.