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PRESS RELEASE

Jared Miller named Champion at World Livestock Auctioneer Championship qualifier

October 4, 2017

Kansas City, Mo.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT
Lindsay Graber Runft
lrunft@lmaweb.com
(816) 301-2426

Jared Miller named Champion at World Livestock Auctioneer Championship qualifier

Jared Miller, Leon, Iowa, was named Champion at the 2018 World Livestock Auctioneer Championship (WLAC) Western Regional Qualifying Event. The auctioneering contest was hosted byImperial Auction Market, Imperial, Neb., and was the first of three qualifiers. A total of 23 contestants competed for a top 10 placing, granting them a spot in the 2018 WLAC at Bloomington Livestock Exchange in Bloomington, Wis., hosted by the Livestock Marketing Association (LMA) in conjunction with LMA Annual Convention.

Miller, a third-generation auctioneer, remembers helping out the family auction business as a kid, running tickets during sales. He “fell in love with the chant,” and decided to follow in his family’s footsteps by becoming an auctioneer. Today, he sells regularly at two livestock auction markets as well as at other types of sales.

The 2018 auctioneering contest will mark Miller’s fourth year of competing in the WLAC, and he hopes to bring the same mindset from the qualifier to the world championship. Additionally, Miller said he is looking forward to attending sessions at the LMA Annual Convention and interacting with other auctioneers and members of the livestock marketing industry while in Wisconsin.

He notes, “Competing in the WLAC has made me a better auctioneer and better person.” Miller went on to add that he encourages livestock auctioneers to compete in the WLAC for those reasons and that he is “proof” of the many benefits the contest offers.

Miller was sponsored by Lamoni Livestock Market in Lamoni, Iowa.

Also making a great showing were Reserve Champion, Kyle Layman of Morland, Kan., and Runner-up Champion, Jason Santomaso of Sterling, Colo. The Top Rookie award is given to the high-scoring, first-time contestant, and Thad McDermott, Wellfleet, Neb., won the award and a spot in the 2018 WLAC. The following contestants complete the Top 10, also qualifying for the 2018 WLAC: Mitch Barthel, Perham, Minn.; Chuck Bradley, Alexandria City, Ala.; Eric Drees, Nampa, Idaho; Will Epperly, Dunlap, Iowa; Mike Godberson, Pawnee, Okla.; and Lander Nicodemus, Burns, Wyo.

Each qualifying event is a live sale where the contestants auction cattle to actual bidders in the seats. Contestants are judged on the clarity of their auction chant; vocal quality; and their ability to catch bids and conduct the sale. Judges are livestock market owners and managers from across the United States. The 2018 WLAC Western Regional Qualifier was judged by Darrell Ailshie, Tennessee Livestock Producers, Inc., Columbia, Tenn.; Seth Crain, Union Commission Co, Inc., Hondo, Texas; Doug Dietterle; Faith Livestock Auction, LLC, Faith, S.D.; John Korrey, 2002 World Livestock Auctioneer Champion, Iliff, Colo.; and Bill Patton, South Central Regional Stockyard, Vienna, Mo.

Additional contestants who competed are Ross Annett, Brooks, Alberta; Bill Cook, Billings, Mont.; Greg Goggins, Billings, Mont.; Sam Hansen, Sisseton, S.D.; Craig Heinen, Cawker City, Kan.; Kirby Hill, Paris, Texas; Brennin Jack, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan; Dillon Lambley, Burke, S.D.; Josh Larson, Haxtun, Colo.; Daniel Otte, Rushville, Neb.; Ethan Schuette, Washington, Kan.; Lonnie Stripe, Humeston, Iowa; Tyler Sudik, Ceresco, Neb.; Layne Weber, Lander, Wyo.; and Curtis Wetovick, Fullerton, Neb.

About the World Livestock Auctioneer Championship
In June 1963, the Livestock Marketing Association held the first annual World Livestock Auctioneer Championship (WLAC) at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Denver, Colorado. The purpose: to spotlight North America’s top livestock auctioneers and to salute their traditionally important role in the competitive livestock marketing process. That year, 23 auctioneers from the United States and Canada sold the same 20 head of cattle over and over again.

The contest was held at hotels until 1967, when it traveled to its first LMA member market. Since then the WLAC has been held in conjunction with the LMA Marketing Industry Convention at member markets around the U.S. and Canada. Recent locations include California, Missouri, Montana, Tennessee, Kansas, South Dakota and Alberta, Canada.

Though the rules have changed, the enthusiasm for the competition hasn’t. On average each year, nearly 100 auctioneers enter the qualifying events and only 31 (10 from each qualifying event, one from the auctioneering competition at Calgary Stampede) are selected to compete in the WLAC. The championship consists of three stages: the regional qualifying events held at different markets around the country, followed by the semi-finals and the finals that are held each June in conjunction with the LMA Annual Convention. Contestants competing for the World Champion title must be 18 years old, employed as a livestock auctioneer and sponsored by a local auction market that shares in the favorable publicity generated by the winners.

LMA is proud to sponsor an event that brings together North America’s top livestock auctioneers in a competition that showcases professionalism and promotes the auction method of selling livestock.

About the Livestock Marketing Association

The Livestock Marketing Association (LMA), headquartered in Overland Park, Kan., is North America’s leading, national trade association dedicated to serving its members in the open and competitive auction method of marketing livestock. Founded in 1947, LMA has more than 800 member businesses across the U.S. and Canada and remains invested in both the livestock and livestock marketing industries through member support, education programs, policy representation and communication efforts.

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As Hurricane Idalia grew closer to Florida’s Big Bend on Monday, August 28 — just two days before it would hit land — many residents were prepping for the storm. But for Alvin “Ab” Townsend and his nephew Rick Greiner, there was a different kind of preparation taking place. Tuesday is sale day at their Townsend Livestock Market, and it was business as usual, despite the uncertainty of what might come. “I started calling some of our buyers,” Greiner says. “And as long as they were going to buy cattle, we were going to have a sale.” So, sell cattle they did. They got through 400 head before they needed to shut down and head home. Early Wednesday morning, the Category 3 hurricane made landfall. Greiner couldn’t get out of his house, but Townsend — along with his wife and sister — were able to drive to the auction market that’s been in the family for four generations. At first, he thought they were at the wrong place. “It didn’t look anything like our place,” Townsend says. “Everything was just on the dirt. The building, our pens, everything was just on the dirt.” Moving On Before Wednesday had ended, the family had called John Kissee, regional executive officer at Livestock Marketing Association. As longtime members, as well as clients of the association’s Livestock Marketing Insurance Agency, they knew they were covered. Kissee understood Ab and Rick would want to move quickly but took time to ensure all bases were covered, insurance-wise. Kissee called back the following day, as promised. He told them the tear down and clean up could begin after taking photos to document the damage. By Monday, excavators were scraping the slab where the auction market once stood. Greiner says they had no choice but to move quickly, and they had no intention of missing more than one sale day. They started getting pens up and brainstorming how they’d hold the following week’s auction with less-than-ideal infrastructure. To be safe, they didn’t advertise. And yet, they still got 400 head. It went well and they doubled their numbers the following week. Of course, there were challenges to selling in such makeshift facilities — like the Tuesday it rained all day and there was no barn to offer cover. But Greiner says they remained grateful through it all. “You don’t have to look very far to see somebody who’s got it worse than what we had,” he says. “We’re just lucky to be back to work and selling good cattle for our good producers.” A Helping Hand Both men are quick to credit the role Livestock Marketing Insurance Agency played in their recovery efforts. “I wouldn’t want to imagine not having Mr. John to call,” Greiner says. Townsend agrees. “The thing with insurance,” the third-generation auction market operator says, “is you don’t need it until something happens. But then when something happens you better thank the Good Lord you had it. Because what would we have done?” Not only did Kissee and the insurance adjuster make the process a breeze, but Townsend says it never felt like a business transaction. “They’re more than just a company,” he says. “LMIA is a group of people who cares.”