By DOUG GRAVES Ohio Correspondent CUMBERLAND, Ohio — Eight auctioneers from this region will participate in the 56th annual World Livestock Auctioneer Championship (WLAC) June 7-8. A total of 31 from the United States and Canada will vie for top honors, which gets under way at the Tulare Sales Yard in Tulare, Calif. Daniel Mitchell of Cumberland is one of those participating. He qualified after being crowned champion at the WLAC Eastern Regional Qualifying event. “It’s an honor and privilege to be tops in my qualifier,” he said. “This gives me the confidence boost I needed going into the Championship round.” At each of the four regional sites contestants were judged on the clarity and quality of their auction chant, auctioneer presentation, ability to catch bids and conduct the sale, and how likely the judge would be to hire the auctioneer. A live sale auction will also take place when the 31 contestants battle for national honors in June. Mitchell has qualified for the WLAC eight times since his first competition in 2012. He and the other contestants move into the WLAC semi-finals, where the competition is composed of two parts: an interview and live auction selling. “For me the most challenging part of the WLAC event is the interview portion,” he explained. “This is what I plan to work on.” Mitchell is a second-generation auctioneer and grew up attending farm sales and other auction events with his father. Russell Sleep of Bedford, Iowa, was crowned champion at this year’s Midwestern Regional Qualifier in Holdenville, Okla. He, too, is a veteran to this event as he has qualified for the WLAC seven straight years. “As national champion I would enjoy the chance to tour different markets across the country and make ranchers more aware of the benefits of true price discovery by selling their product through competitive bidding,” Sleep said. He attended auctioneer school in 2004 and took his first auctioneering job selling weigh cows and bulls for United Producers, Inc. He now sells five weekly livestock auctions. Jay Romine, a national qualifier from Mt. Washington, Ky., found his passion for auctioneering through going with his father to livestock markets and helping out. “I have loved it all my life and now, preparing for the national event, it’s just another day at the office,” he said. “For the interview portion of the event, I’m going to relax and not overthink it. The highlight will be sitting down for five to 10 minutes, selling cattle.” Though competition is expected to be fierce, there are many friendships made during all this. “Over my years of competition I’ve gained a lot of lifelong auctioneer friends from many different states,” Mitchell said. “With each event I attend I take something new I’ve learned and take it back to my business.” Other competitors from this area include Vernon Yoder (Dundee, Ohio), Will Epperly (Dunlap, Iowa), Brandon Frey (Creston, Iowa), Wade Leist (Boyne City, Mich.), and Jacob Massey (Petersburg, Tenn.). The Livestock Marketing Assoc. held its first annual world championship in June 1963 in Colorado, with the purpose of spotlighting North America’s top livestock auctioneers. That year, 23 auctioneers from the U.S. and Canada sold the same 20 head of cattle over and over again. On average, each year nearly 100 auctioneers enter the qualifying events and only 31 (10 from each qualifying event and one from the auctioneer competition at Calgary Stampede) advance to compete in the WLAC. Contestants must be 18 years old, employed as a livestock auctioneer, and sponsored by a local auction market. For more information, visit www.LMAWeb.com |
