Agricultural News
Oklahoma Livestock Auctioneer Brian Little Goes East and Wins Regional Title in Ohio
Fri, 21 Nov 2008 5:38:08 CSTThis is Brian Little’s 10th year in Livestock Marketing Association’s World Livestock Auctioneer Championship (WLAC), and he keeps coming back for some basic reasons. “I just have a love for the business, and the sound of the auctioneer,” he said after winning LMA’s third quarterfinal qualifying contest for next summer’s WLAC, in competition here Nov. 18 at the Muskingum Livestock Auction Co. Little, 39, is from Wann, Okla. He was sponsored by a market he co-owns, the Coffeyville Livestock Market, LLC, Coffeyville, Kan., and the Tulsa Stockyards, Inc., Tulsa, Okla. Little is only the second Oklahoma livestock auctioneer to qualify thus far for the 2009 world event- as only Kevin Magby of Atoka qualified earlier this fall at the Texhoma regional competition.
The reserve champion, from a field of 28 contestants, was Al Wessel, Long Prairie, Minn., and the runner-up champion was Jeff Bynum, Southside, Ala. These three winners, along with the next five highest scorers, will move on to the 2009 WLAC, June 13 at Fergus Falls Livestock Auction Market, Inc., Fergus Falls, Minn. It will be the 46th annual world championship contest. Those five were, in alphabetical order, Darren Carter, Ninety Six, S.C.; Eli Detweiler, Jr., Ruffin, N.C.; Brandon Neely, Berkeley Springs, W.Va.; Jay Romine, Mt. Washington, Ky., and Jeff Showalter, Broadway, Va.
Little’s highest finish in the WLAC so far was runner-up champion in 2006. He’s been an auctioneer for 15 years, and graduated from the Missouri Auction School. He credits his father for encouraging him to attend the school, which came after Little graduated from college and worked for two years at a Kansas packing plant as a production supervisor. “I just didn’t like it,” Little said. What would winning the WLAC – considered the “World Series” and “Super Bowl” of his profession – mean to him? “Being recognized by my peers as world champion would be a tremendous honor,” Little said. And “being an ambassador for the industry really excites me,” he said. The champion spends much of his championship year on the road for LMA, at markets and other events.
Reserve champion Wessel is also a veteran contestant. He’s entered “12 or 13 times,” been a finalist “half a dozen times,” and been runner-up world champion twice. But he considered not entering this year, after not making the finals the last two years. “I did a yeoman’s job, but didn’t do as well as I thought I would.” Several factors changed his mind: the fact the June WLAC will be in his home state, along with the encouragement of friends -- “some of them said they’re saving cattle (for the WLAC), and they hope I get to sell them.” And, he said, “I refused to quit.” Wessel, 55, has been an auctioneer for 37 years. It’s what he’s wanted to be since his father took him to an auction “when I was four or five years old.” He was sponsored by an “all Minnesota” list of markets: Tri-County Livestock Auction, Motley; Rich Prairie Livestock Exchange, Inc., Pierz; Long Prairie Livestock Auction Co., Inc., Long Prairie; Bagley Livestock Exchange, Bagley, and Winger Livestock, Inc., Winger.
Bynum, the runner-up champion here, was sponsored by the Fort Payne Stockyard, Inc., Fort Payne, Ala. While he didn’t attend auction school, he did work with two former WLAC winners – 1979’s Bobby Russell, and 1988’s Joe Don Pogue. He also met and studied instructional tapes from 1974 world champion Ralph Wade. Bynum, 43, called all three former champions “tremendous mentors and teachers.” This is his 7th time in the contest, and he’s finished among the top eight scorers in three quarterfinal qualifying contests. An obvious student of the contest, he said his goal is “to be the first man from Alabama to be the world champion.”
Ty Thompson, Billings, Mont., won the first qualifying quarterfinal contest, Sept. 9 in Miles City, Mont. The second qualifying contest, Oct. 29 in Texhoma, Okla., was won by Lynn Langvardt, Wakefield, Kan. The final contest will be Dec. 2, at the Kingsville Livestock Auction, Kingsville, Mo. A cash award and a custom-made belt buckle are presented to the winner in each quarterfinal competition. The reserve and runner-up champions in each contest also receive custom belt buckles. The eight qualifiers from each quarterfinal contest, along with the reigning International Auctioneer Champion – Peter Raffan, Armstrong, B.C. – make up the field for next summer’s WLAC. Three titlists will be selected, and the winners take home thousands of dollars in cash and prizes. LMA conducts the WLAC and the qualifying contests to put the focus on competitive livestock marketing, and the continuing vital role of the auctioneer in that process.
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