But there is hope & I witnessed that as well. Young, radical farmers showed themselves beautifully—many of them draft horse farmers in the Northwest, bidding alongside everyone else. Asking for advice on plows, harnesses, potato diggers, & horses, we are inheriting not only the equipment from the elder generations, but also the knowledge. And so many people are willing to share that knowledge at the auction. The young farmer movement is bustling & full of energy, & every year it grows—but without the input & support of those hanging up the saddles for good, we face a tough road ahead.

WARNING: You need to read this article alone. I ask you to say some stuff aloud that might be embarrassing to you or aggravating to others upon first utterance. With that caveat stated, now a question. Do you love the chant of the auctioneer? Maybe you remember attending livestock sales as a kid. Maybe you enjoy going to estate sales. Whatever the case, much of the show and intrigue is listening to the fast talking auctioneer. Their ”cry“ just builds enthusiasm and excitement. Do you ever wish you could chant like an auctioneer? If so, I’m going to teach you the basics in this article. In about 5 minutes you’re going to hopefully impress even yourself by becoming a bid caller.

If you were there you might have a good sense of the entire event… but then again you might not. I was there, from the beginning on throughout and I can’t tell you first hand what all occurred. A lot of people showed up, things were happening in every corner of the lovely old fairgrounds pretty much non-stop. We had more items consigned than we have ever had, we worked up to three auction rings selling at the same time, and I can tell you it felt like a good time was had by most.

I, a very young man and hungry to have a farm of my own, was managing a small goat dairy for an absentee owner. The farm paper was on the table at the neighbor’s house. I read the ad over five or six times and felt a terrible magnetic itch. I didn’t have any money to spare, a few bucks waiting to swell to enough to pay for a new coat and some groceries. I didn’t know anything about auctions except what I garnered from little snatches – of how a guy could get caught scratching his nose and end up buying something, slices of the singsong banter of the auctioneer pulling in people’s attention, the air filled with an urgency like a race underway, a woman walking around in front of a gathering of folks with a lamp held up high for viewing.

When I can pull myself away from the farm and I’ve got a few dollars to burn I’m an avid auction-goer. To me, a good farm auction is a fun social occasion and an educational experience to boot. And if I can get a few good deals while I’m there, so much the better. So what follows are a set of tips and tricks I have observed and used in my own auction-going experiences. May they be of good use to you as well.

Some of the young dairymen here prefer to keep enough cows to utilize all of their land, instead of investing in machinery for haymaking, thus buying all of their hay. Bought in hay also brings in nutrients, and is a good way to boost the fertility of our land. They have taken to heart the advice to not invest in anything that rusts, rots or depreciates. It is amazing how little equipment it takes to operate a well-run grass-based dairy. Another reason for an auction like this is to stimulate each other into producing better cows. It has long been Nathan Weaver’s goal to breed a perfect – maybe I should say a better – grass-fed cow.

From the beginning the concept for this event was that it be a true market festival with the auction as a center piece. We have always wanted to make those three days be a time when folks could come together, whether or not they wished to buy and/or sell, for a broad community networking reunion. And we’ve been fortunate that it has been very successful in just that way. With the spacious and accomodating new venue in Madras we are excited about how the event might now take a giant leap forward in growth.

Auctions are a great place to meet your next work partner and equine friend. It is also an opportunity for them to find the new homes that they need. I appreciate the trainers who help make horses the helpful partners that they want to be. Above all I am grateful for the gift of the wonderful horses that have been in my life and thank you Waverly for helping us meet some of them.