Going, Going, Going Transcript
- I was raised around the auction barn, you know, and growed up around them. My dad's an auctioneer. He doesn't want me to be an auctioneer, you know, he wants me to be a doctor or something like that, but you know, and I'm involved in it, and that's what I know.
- I sold for nothing when I first started, and I would've. I'd have paid them to let me sell when I first started.
- You can see Joe. He's hyper and he talks all the time, and he always did as a kid. But first time he went to the auction sale, he didn't say a word. He just sat there, and that's unusual for Joe. And about halfway through the sale, Joe just says, "I wanna do that." You know, he says, "Someday, I'm gonna do that." And from that day on, that's what he had in mind he wanted to do.
- I went to auction school with the idea to set up a sale because the local auctioneers wanted too much commission.
- I probably, pretty confident up there on that stage. I kinda like to run things, you know, and we think we have a real good company, and we try to do the best job for selling a man's merchandise.
- And we have fun at it.
- And we have fun at it.
- And when everything goes right, I mean, there's nothing that feels better. I guess probably like an entertainer or something. You feel as if though you're almost half entertainer and half auctioneer.
- Apparently he likes some pigs.
- I don't want piggies anymore.
- Yeah. Right. He just ain't gonna do it. Yeah. That's a nice, good red pig. Okay. We'll back up here and do it. Oh, get a little bit of this weather, and they'll let 'em
- Let 'em get back in?
- Get back in. You know, I think we oughta have a 4-H field day.
- [Narrator] Meet Mark Kuhn. Family man, rural Oregonian, part-time auctioneer for the last two and a half years. Mark's one of a small group of young men trying to enter an old occupation: livestock auctioneering. He may be one of the last. Today, livestock is being traded less, particularly among the family farmers that have used livestock markets the most in the past. Here then, is the story of Mark and his world of auctioneering. His fate is tied to the fate of rural America.
- Are you as good a butcher as you are an auctioneer?
- Probably a better butcher than I am an auctioneer at this point, but hopefully will be a better auctioneer than I am a butcher, eventually. I suppose a lot of people, they would no more wanna be an auctioneer than an astronaut, you know, but, and that's good. That means that, you know, a little more chance for me.
- [Narrator] If you're like most city people, you may have been to a household or charity auction, but you've probably never been to one of these. This is the livestock market of Joe Parypa, neighbor to Mark and one of his mentors. Mark deciphers the secret code of the livestock auction, a secret to the uninitiated.
- And how long she been fresh, Mr. Brown? Two days? And I'm sure you've milked her, haven't ya? Fellas, this man knows what he is doing with cattle. He's milked this heifer. She is fresh two days. There's her cap.
- He dropped the cap two days ago and he just asked the man, he said, "Yes, he has been milking her," and whatnot, you know. He's trying to get $1025.
- 1025 or 10 and a quarter. I go all the same. Now he had to drop to 900 to get us started. Try to get 925. Now 800. Now 25. Now half. Yeah, he wanted eight. He got a quarter now. He had 850. Now 75. Now the ring man's pointing to the person, "You're out, you're out." You wanna be 875. Now 900, now quarter. Now nine and a half. Now you got a couple of bidders competing up against each other. Going to 925.
- [Narrator] Growing up in a farming community taught Mark this language. Livestock markets have been central to ranching and farming communities since the 1930s, and are still important today. Folks come here to buy or sell some cows, to keep on top of livestock prices, and to mingle with their fellow farmers.
- When I came in the business in '69, the state of Washington had 25 sale yards like this one, more or less. Some bigger, some smaller. And now we have in the state, 17. Saturday was the day that all farmers came in, sold their cattle, got the groceries, and did the shopping, and then went home. But now most everybody, farming is just a sideline, and so they still do a fair amount of shopping when they come into town on Saturday, but it's not like it used to be.
- [Narrator] Mark graduated from auction school two and a half years ago, and has managed to steadily rise in his part-time auctioneering career. He placed 5th in the last Oregon auctioneering competition, and has found a coveted regular weekly job at a livestock market. Mark's knowledge of livestock, the support of his community, and acceptance by buyers and other auctioneers have helped to speed his progress along.
- Well, I think he's gonna make a heck of an auctioneer. Not just 'cause he's a friend of mine, but just watching him, you know, 'cause he likes to get into things. I mean, he likes to get, he likes people, and he likes to be fair with him, and he likes to have a little fun with him too. I mean, and I think that's what it takes to be a good auctioneer.
- Mark is getting better all the time. He's really coming on good. In fact, he's one of the best young auctioneers. I think that, you know, with no more experience than he has, and he doesn't sell that many sales. He has really come a long ways in the past year. If he keeps it up, he's really gonna be good. Really.
- [Mark] Come on, boy! You know, and you're almost 30 years old, and you're thinking, why didn't I do this 10 years ago? No, I don't at all, because 10 years ago I wouldn't have done it. I wouldn't have had the drive to do it then that I do now because I would think, "Oh, I got lots of time." That's why I didn't do it earlier. But when I got a little older, I thought "It's either now or never" The 4-H sale. That kinda makes me about as nervous as anything just for the fact that it's once a year, and it's hometown crowd, and you want everything to go right. You don't wanna have any problems at the county fair with your hometown crowd. People you know, you know, most of your life in one thing or another. And they're there because they want to watch you sell this animal.
- [Narrator] Mark sells many community benefit sales as a volunteer for the experience.
- The fellow that I first started with, we always wore hat and tie. Regardless, every sale. I can see, I have to do this again. And a lot of fellows don't. This gal said, "Oh Cowboys, where are you guys from?" Frank says, "It takes a lot more than a hat to make a cowboy, ma'am, but do you know who the auctioneers are?" She said, "Yeah." How do those guys do it? I mean, bang-o, their tie is tied. Sure, hi. What do you think, Brent?
- [Brent] I think you need my Barnets.
- Trade me for the sale.
- [Brent] Huh?
- [Crowd Member] Trade him for the sale.
- [Brent] Okay. I want 'em back.
- You'll never see 'em again. What we'll do is start out with the lambs and whatnot, and we'll start selling those, and we'll work right on through from the champion right on down blue ribbons and whatnot. And as far as they're all blue ribbon animals, we sell 'em as all blue ribbon, regardless of how they place, because no one should be penalized for the fact that they're all real close. There's no reason that one lamb should be considered a better one than the other as far as at the sale. Which there are better, you know, no different than if you went to store and there's a stack of watermelons. There's some that are sweeter than others, but you pay the same price.
- That's all, and then we just check it off or on.
- Right
- That's all. They just tell us.
- Right.
- We've already got it all figured out.
- Right, and a lot of these people we're gonna bill.
- Right, Okay. That's good.
- Right. So whatever you guys wanna do, if you wanna do it the way that I thought, or that way, whatever you wanna do.
- Okay.
- I'll tell you what, the easiest thing to do is, when I got a piece of paper with me when I'm selling, I'm always setting it down. I gotta use both my hands, usually. So you're gonna be here anyway. You just tell me who the next kid is, and where he's from. I know a lot of these kids, but.
- [Narrator] Connie and Mark were married right out of high school. Connie works full time at a local branch of a city utility, and cares for their young family. While Mark is working his six and sometimes seven day week. In the tradition of auctioneer's wives, when she can, she clerks at his sales.
- [Mark] Tabia Z from Clatskanie 4-H. And this is just a rippin' good lamb here. Tabia is not such a bad girl herself. Tabia. I call her anything. She gonna set him up here. So just dig right in there, folks. Just help yourself. You're looking for a nice lamb to put in the locker, or you just want to help these kids out, now's the time to do it. This is the place. Would you bid a dollar? Anyone? Just raise your hand. Wink at me. Throw a rock at me. I don't care. Hey, this looks like another Clastkanie Reinbull boy. Is that right?
- [Boy] Wallace.
- Wallace, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Let me look at you. Yeah. You look like your dad. You're a Wallace. Clastkanie, Stephen Wallace, 117 pound lamb. And he's a rippin' good lamb here today, boys. I'll be seven a half. Thank you. Now one 10.
- [Mark] I'd like to sell every day. Probably burn out, but it's exposure for me, and it's practice for me. And they're fun to do because it's not that serious. Although, I try to get all I can for 'em. You can play with a lot of people. You can have a lot of fun. Whoa. He said no! Sir, you haven't changed your mind? Your wife took a look at his face?
- [Mark Voiceover] Some people I don't think really take you serious, you know, you're a young auctioneer, you know, and you're trying to establish yourself in one thing or another. And then you show up with, you know, you're clean, you got nice clothes on, you got on a tie. And then, "Hey, he's kind of serious about this," you know? "This isn't just something that he's just doing. This is, he'd like to, I think he'd like to be an auctioneer."
- [Mark's Mother] I like to say how much I enjoy going to his auctions. I really do. It's so much fun. Now. Not in the beginning. It was like when he was in rodeo club in high school. He used to ride bareback, and I would go, but I always wanted to tell him he didn't have to do it. Just get off the horse and don't let him open the shoot, you know? And that's how I felt when he first started auctioneering. I just wanted, you know, "You don't have to do this." Just, you know, kind of run out the back, you know, and leave or something, you know.
- [Narrator] Mark's mother, Carolyn Kuhn, attended auction sales in Eastern Oregon when she was a girl. Those sales were sold by her father's cousin, Jinks Tanler, a well known auctioneer in those parts.
- [Mark's Mother] It was lots of fun. It was real exciting because he was a real outgoing person, you know? And I knew him from dad. I mean, he was related. So, you know, you were familiar with him. And then to get to see him kind of up on a stage. And he was always dressed up, you know? And he had his boots and his white shirt. They like to wear white shirts when they get dressed up. And it was exciting. It was fun to know someone that could do something special.
- [Narrator] Several generations of Mark's family live in his small town of Warren, Oregon, and they are an important part of his life.
- [Mark] They say this is pretty nice country, so people have been around quite a bit, so it must be, because it'd be pretty hard for me to go live in the Midwest and not be around family, 'cause it's pretty fortunate to have your grandparents and a lot of family right around local, you know, several generations, so it's nice that way. Pretty supportive.
- [Friend] And I guess people in the community is the same way. You know what I mean?
- No!
- Well, sure, you know, I mean, we got so many friends in this community.
- Yeah. Right.
- Okay, for a matter of fact, Liz.
- Yeah, you don't know.
- She's a sweetheart. She, you know, I'd do anything for her and she'd do anything for me.
- Mm-hmm.
- Yeah
- It's one of those deals, and you could name a hundred people around in Columbia county that...
- Yeah. If you move you wouldn't wanna leave them either.
- And even if those people need help, they know they can come to us.
- [Narrator] Mark is unofficial mayor of his hometown, where he is still known by the boyhood nickname given him by friend and neighbor, Liz.
- We nickname everybody
- [Man] That'll do it.
- But buckwheat was around and we always say, "Buckwheat! Buckwheat!"
- [Mark] Yeah. You sound like a peacock.
- Yeah. Mark is always... Oh, Buckwheat. I don't know about "Mark." We had so many "Marks." See, we had so many "Marks." So we just decided we better do some changing around here. And well he was about 12 or 14 when he come. And probably...
- [Mark] Gonna say.
- 20 Years?
- [Mark] Yeah, probably.
- Yeah.
- [Mark] Wanna ice cream cone?
- [Man] Uuuh?
- [Mark] Yes or no? Yes or no? Gotta speak.
- Yeah. That's right
- Everybody has to talk here. I don't think there's anybody that Liz hasn't trained to talk. You gotta speak up.
- Well, when we was at the farm, my aunt always says, "You like to have potatoes?" And I said, "well, I don't know. I don't think so." Or something like that. She wouldn't pass it to me until I said the right thing. And that's the way I'm doing these guys. Make 'em say "please," or "yes or no."
- Yeah, we've a lot of fun. I met a fella that was an auctioneer. He was around here and asked him about how he learned to be an auctioneer, one thing or another, and he said he went to school and whatnot. And he said, he'd teach me. And what was his? He said something like for 200 bucks I'll teach you be an auctioneer. I said So anyway, I told this guy, I said, "I'd like go to auctioneer school." "Ah, what are you gonna do that for?" "Oh, well, why not?" In fact, then after I kind of decided I was gonna auctioneer school, then I thought, "I wonder if this is somewhat like being a used car salesman or what?" You know? And I thought, "Well, do I really want to do this?"
- Mark wanted to be an auctioneer for a long time, and we finally sent him to school. You know, if you wanna go, just go.
- [Narrator] Today, most people who want to be auctioneers attend a school. Around two weeks that closely resemble boot camp, the River Basin Auction School is Mark's alma mater. What Mark learned here three years ago is similar to what these students are learning today.
- 50, 50, 60, 60, 70, 70, 80, 80, 90, 90, 1, one and a quarter, one and a quarter, one and a half, one and a half, 75, 75, 2, 2, two and a quarter, two and a quarter, two and a half, two and a half 3, 3, 3 and a half, 3 and a half, 4, 4, 4 and a half, 4 and a half, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10, 12 and a half, 12 and a half, 15, 15 17 and a half, 17 and a half, 20, 20 25, 25, 30, 30, 35, 35, 40, 40, 45, 45, 50, 50, 60, 60, 70, 70, 80, 80, 90, 90 One, one and a quarter, one and a quarter, one and a half, one and a half, 75, 75, 2, 2, 2 and a quarter, 2 and a quarter, 2 and a half, 2 and a half, 3, 3, 3 and a half, 3 and a half, 4, 4, 4 and a half, 4 and a half, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8
- Three months ago I decided to become an auctioneer. I've been working for my father-in-law at his auctions, and he needed some backup help. And it sounded like the thing to do, and I've always wanted to get into this line of work, and I could help him out doing it at the same time. And we just decided to go for it.
- Well, I went to school, and I'm an ag business major, and now I've been, the last six years, I've been into ranching. Just raising cattle and horses. And that's just about it. And now I've been working to support it at the auction barn.
- 20, 20, 20, 30, 30, 30, 40, 40, 40, 50, 50, 50, 60, 60, 60, 70, 70, 70...
- [Narrator] Instructor Truman Kongslie has an auction school in Bismarck, North Dakota that he brings here to Oregon every January.
- [Truman] To me, if you don't have a chant when you sell, if you're selling without a chant, it's tiresome. It plays you out. You just can't go out "$1, give two, $2, three, $3, 4, 4, 5," and people think that's all there is to counting. And why we teach, when we teach in school, we teach the tongue twisters, like the one "Betty Botter." It's where we get our rhythm. With the "Betty Botter" it's kind of like singing a song. ♪ It's Betty Botter, bought some butter, ♪ ♪ and then you go one, one quarter, one and a half, 75. ♪ ♪ But she said this butter's bitter. ♪ ♪ If I put it in my batter, ♪ ♪ it will make my batter bitter. ♪ ♪ So she bought a bit of better butter, ♪ ♪ Put it in her bitter batter. ♪ ♪ Made her bitter batter better. ♪ ♪ So she bought a bit of better butter, ♪ ♪ Put it in her bitter batter. ♪
- 10 dollar, now 11, 11, 11 10 dollar, now 11, 11, 11 11 dollar, now 12, 12, 12 11 dollar, now 12, 12, 12, 12 dollar, now 13, 13, 13, 12 dollar, now 13, 13, 13 13 dollar, now 14, 14, 14 13 dollar, now 14, 14, 14 14 dollar, now 15, 15, 15 3 dollar, now 4, 4, 4 4 dollar, now 5, 5, 5 5 dollar, now 6, 6, 6 6 dollar, now 7, 7, 7 7 dollar
- Whoop, no, "Sev-," You gotta switch, see? Each time. See when he bid, we're only saying it twice. It's $1 now, 2, 2, 2, $1 now, 2, 2, 2. He bids now $2 now, 3, 3, 3. So you're back for this guy. So you've gotta, you're going like this and this, this and this. And then you go this and this. See what I mean? $1 now, two, $1 now, two, $2 now three, $2 now three. That's the way you'll take your bids. It's just like taking a bid, see?
- I think the first day we were more frightened. The second day. I think it's just nerves or something. You know? It's like everything's mud. Maybe tomorrow everything will be clearer. We'll have easier time remembering numbers and stuff.
- [Man] You just don't realize how dumb you are until you start. Really. Go, go, go with the numbers. Really.
- Two and a quarter, two and quarter, two...
- Two and a half,
- Two and a half, two and a half, two and a half.
- 34. That's better.
- Start 'em at $80. Start 'em at $80.
- At 80?
- Yep.
- 800... 8 and a quarter, 8... 80 dollars. 82 and a half. 85
- 470
- 480
- 480
- Yes.
- 490
- Yes.
- 480
- Yes, 90, 90.
- 490, 490
- Yep. 5.
- Five.
- Yep.
- Five.
- 510.
- 510
- Yes, yes.
- 520
- Roll now, 5, 10, 20, 20, 20, 20...
- 520, 510, 10.. 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 30, 30, 30, 30
- 30's here.
- 40, 40, 40 50, 50, 50 60, 60, 60, 60
- Yes.
- 70, 70, 70
- Yes.
- 80, 80, 80, 670, I have 670, 80, 80, 80, 80 Sold $670 to buyer #78.
- Okay now, will you do that one more time for me, but only this time will you, all you're doing, Dorothy, you're standing here like this here, "Alright. 610, 20, 20, 30, 30." Nobody can hear you. Can you get a little more force to it? Little more force. Act like you're mad. No, you gotta be in charge. You gotta be in control there. You wouldn't have control anybody with that voice that you're using now. Nobody after two items, they wouldn't pay attention to you. They'd say, "What's she saying? What's she got? Where's she at?" They'd be standing up there and nobody would bid to you. Have some authority in your voice. Say, look at you, "ah, 600." Don't be scared. Just do it. I mean, maybe you're not that kind of a woman. I bet you never ball him out in a loud voice. Tomorrow morning we're gonna do things a little different. We're gonna have an auction sale. I think tomorrow what we'll do at noon, have you go downtown and buy some stuff. You can buy peanuts, popcorn, shirts, whatever you wanna buy. But bring about three items a piece, and we're gonna sell 'em. I don't care if you bring $20 items. You can do it if you want to. We're gonna let you sell 'em, we're gonna clerk it, and you actually have to sell 'em. You're gonna buy 'em. You guys are gonna buy each other's merchandise. We've had $25 worth of merchandise in a class with eight people that brought 1,010 bucks. $25 worth of merchandise. We've sold search for $13 a roll. We've sold eggs one time for $27 a dozen. And you guys will do it yourself sitting right there. You're all trying to be auctioneers, and I'll prove it to you tomorrow. If you go get them search, which you will do. You let me work the ring. You guys and maybe guy. We'll work the ring and you guys are gonna do your own selling of your three items you bring, and we'll work the ring, get the money for you.
- [Narrator] The students face one sink or swim situation after another. As soon as they've gotten over their fear of their classmates, Kongslie introduces a more difficult challenge: the public. On the seventh day the students sell at an auction barn, and the buyers choose a champion from among them. Phil Roe of Idaho was chosen the best of the class. On the morning of the eighth and last day, the students sell at a public auction.
- [Truman] We had people that cannot even get up in front of 6, 7, 8, 10 people to sell that shovel. They can't even get up the first night and say where they're from and why they came to school. And the school is over, why, it's nothing to it. They're up there in front of people. That's half the battle. Auctioneering is getting in front of people. You can't believe how nervous you can get, when you get in front of your crowd, you know, a big crowd and you start selling. That still happens to me today. After almost 30 years in the auction business, I still get butterflies.
- [Auctioneer] Honeymoon special! Honeymoon special!
- $1 now too. $1 now. Let's go $1!
- Anybody dollar on that? Anybody dollar on that? Dollar to go on that box. Anybody want a dollar to go? There's two cameras in there. One Polaroid. Anybody got a dollar to go?
- [Crowd Member] Hey. There's a Veg-O-Matic in there.
- Veg-O-Matic still in the box.
- [Truman] Everybody likes a little humor, and if you can put a little humor in your chant or something, get the buyers on your side with a smile on your face or something. It just makes the day shorter.
- [Truman] I have people to come to my auctions just to see what I'm gonna say next.
- Take my advice. When you come to a sale when it's cold, you know how to keep warm? You just spend more than you got into your bank account. That always warms you up.
- $6 #43.
- [Narrator] The students show off their skills to friends and family at a combination graduation dinner and auction.
- Will you give 6, 6, 6, 5? Will you give 6? Come on, Andy. You can bid too.
- Look at that. Now, if that isn't pretty, it's cute. It's a little bear for a grand baby, and you're a grandmother. $10.
- Now how much has he got?
- He's got $10, he wants to ask for 12 and a half.
- Oh. 11.
- $11! Whoa, we got 11. Let's go! 11 here, 12!
- You could learn probably without school, but it surely helps a lot to go to school. And then just to be in that environment and to have people in specialty things, as far as voice and chant and rhythm and different things to get you started on it. And then from there you take over and do what you want. You know, as far as the rhythm and just practicing and whatnot. You know, practice, practice, practice.
- Graduating from school doesn't make you an auctioneer. It builds the enthusiasm and the desire. But if you don't have the opportunity to work, that fades away and you don't practice. And first thing you know, it's a thing in the past.
- Business is very difficult. Everybody wants an auctioneer, but they want 'em to have 15 years experience when they come in.
- The more experience you get, the smarter you get in the auction business. There's no such a thing as instant experience. That takes years to get that. If I could give somebody instant experience, I would, but there's no way to get instant experience.
- First thing they told us in auctioneer school was "You are now entering the most ruthless, cutthroat profession there is." And maybe you don't realize that to the fullest extent until you actually go out there and try to get a break, as far as some practical experience to try and sell.
- [Auctioneer] And say, you want to give a thousand bucks to the scale donation.
- Bill Jentzen is a neighbor and good friend of Mark's. Jentzen is a retired paper maker and rancher who still goes to auctions three or four times a week. He remembers auctions as a boy.
- [Bill] In that country, at that time, he used to sell the cattle and everything right on a farm auction. Horses and it was a big affair. A lot of fun, of course. You know, all the neighbors gather and people, well, from a hundred miles around a lot of times too. It all depends on how big a sale was and how well it was advertised. I was raised on a ranch, or a farm, too. And then we come out here, and I was away from it for about 10, 12 years. And I got back. Kind of sticks with you. I guess. When you farm, farm blood. We call it cow alcoholic. That's what boils down to. You like it.
- [Mark] He got me my job at the Centralia one thing or another. And he's helped me with a lot of things. He's helped me to realize the different, not so much classes of livestock, as quality there, you know, definitely quite a bit of difference in a lot of different types of cattle. More so than meets the eye. Bill Jentzen said to me, he says, "You want a job selling livestock?" I said, "Yeah." I said, "That's kind of the ultimate job for an auctioneer." It's faster pace than most things and whatnot. And so, yeah, I'd like to go up there.
- [Mark] I remember thinking to myself, "If I could just do a benefit, I would be really happy." I used to look in the livestock market, not that often, as far as in the paper, as what the different classes of livestock were selling for. And I remember very distinctly thinking to myself, "Well, I'll probably never ever have the chance to sell livestock." So there's no sense of really keeping up on the market that closely. And although I had some, myself, and I had an idea what they were worth, but not ever the wide range of livestock classes. And then all of a sudden, boom, I had the break of a light.
- How we doing?
- We're doing all right.
- Hundred percent?
- Mark is a little, he's got... he carries a little more rapport with them. And he's what I would say looks like a cattle auctioneer. He's tall and thin and young and aggressive, and just kind of fits the part.
- How you doing?
- Do you know anything about that horse?
- He's real shy. He's real shy too.
- If they look like a crook, then they're not gonna convince the buyers and sellers out there that they're doing the best job for 'em. And Mark's got the look of an honest individual.
- [Man] Sell her a flop-eared rabbit.
- Okay, a little rabbit. Okay. Sell her a wiener pig, wiener pig.
- No!
- Yeah.
- No, I want a baby rabbit.
- [Mark] No, now it doesn't bother me a bit, really, to get in front of a bunch of people. Well, I shouldn't say that. It does. I mean, there's always that little bit of excitement or nervousness, but otherwise it doesn't bother me to the point where I'm at a standstill, you know, too nervous to do anything.
- [Bill] He's sped up a lot, and he's more distinct, and he's changed his momentum a lot on his calling. He's tried different things, I've noticed. He's getting better all the time.
- Let him have it. 47 50. Your name is sir?
- [Crowd Member] Hawks
- Hawks? Hawks.
- [Mark] 'Cause can read their faces. You can tell where they want to bid. And a lot of times you can tell if you break to a lower denomination of numbers that they will bid again. Maybe you'll go. They wouldn't go two and a half dollars, but they'd probably go $3 by $1 bills. You know, and being able to see that this person really likes this animal, really wants it, but they're getting tired of paying $10 bids or $5 bids or two and a half dollars bids. And being able to break down to a smaller denomination, and take and use that to your advantage with the momentum and excitement and one thing or another. A lot of guys will, you know, I mean, they're really intent and they're concentrating on you calling the bids, and say, you're at 44, you want 45. And you're asking "45, 45 put amount in five," and he'll go, give you an old grin, you know? Or they might just go, or they might just go. Or if you're at say you're at 45, 45 and a half, and you want 46, and they'll go. 75. Or they'll go quarter, or they'll just break you again. Or a lot of guys wanna be really inconspicuous, you know? And, and they'll .
- [Narrator] Bob Stanley, a much older, more experienced auctioneer takes over to sell the majority of the sale. Mark, like every young auctioneer has had to walk a fine line in relating to his buyers, benefiting from their feedback yet keeping the upper hand.
- [Mark] Buyers and whatnot. They'll try and manipulate me a little bit. Where with Bob, they're not gonna get away with that because he's been around a long time. He knows these fellas. He's already been through it. Where with me, they'll try to, you know, they'll try to work a little something on you if they can, you know, try to get you unbalanced a little bit. It makes it hard for a young auctioneer sometimes.
- [Mark auctioning] This is a 14 year old Gelding quarter horse. He loads well. They say that he's not a little kid's horse, but he's fairly gentle. Maybe just someone that's been around a horse a little bit, got a little ring bone on the right. Anyway, we're just gonna sell 'em here by the head.
- [Mike Seymour] Mark has worked for me for about a year and a half now. And from when he first started, he's probably improved 150%. Some people only come to the market maybe once a year or something like that. And I've had several of them say, "Wow, what a difference!"
- You know, at school, I didn't have anything. I thought, "Yeah, I wonder if it'll ever come." He said, "Well, if you go home and practice," he told our whole class, go home and practice for six months, 20 minutes a day, or three months, I guess it was 20 minutes a day. He said, "You won't believe the improvement."
- He about drove us crazy with his practicing. He'd practice for an hour or two each night. And every time we got in the car, he would start practicing. So we all learned tongue twisters with him. My daughter can say tongue twisters just about as well as he can.
- [Mark] It kind of was gradual. And then it all of a sudden just kind of comes, you know, it's like, "Yeah, that's worth a million bucks." You know, it happened. Now I can do it, you know? And then you progress with that, you know, and you play with it, and you change it, and you do a lot of things. You go faster, you go slower. And then you get constructive criticism, maybe, from a lot of people, and you go and you, you know, "Well, you're going too fast." "Well, you're, you know, just speed up a little bit." Well, you know, sometimes you have to quit listening to everybody else and do what's comfortable for you. I go down the road in the slaughter truck, and I practice. People think I'm crazy 'cause they don't see an antenna in it. There's no radio on it. Probably think I'm singing Use power poles. Always said at the school, they said, "Oh, you'll be going down the road, and you use power poles. Every time you go buy a power pole, you know, Found out the speed I drive, those power poles go faster than I can chant, you know.
- [Auctioneer] Six bid, now brought in.
- [Narrator] Joe Parypa, 1987 Reserve World Livestock Auctioneering Champion. Mark came to know him since he works at a neighboring livestock market, and gets a kick out of helping young auctioneers.
- And just, and Joe, "40, sir, a quarter here." And Joe would go like this. And this is the first time I seated another world champion tape. And he's going like this to this guy, "41 and a quarter." And I said to Joe, I said, "Do you think that's being a little too aggressive?" "Never, Mark." He said, "Reach out and pull 'em in." You know, he says, and so I started doing that, for some reason, but it was because these people, some of 'em are real slow to bid, and you wanna get the faster tempo going, and you'll be going like that. And the first time I thought, "Gah, maybe that's crossing over to that fine line." You know, maybe they'd be offended by it, but I think it helps 'em. "Come on," you know, "It's okay. You can bid." You know, "please."
- [Joe] I can go real fast. But fast doesn't do any good. When you're selling, you gotta be selling. Not only do you just talk fast and think fast, you gotta - timing. I call it all timing. You can't sell out too fast. You can't sell out too slow. And I bet that has nothing to do with the bid calling, just the situation selling of the sale here. Very important. Timing comes with selling a little while. When your first go outta auction school, you're first selling, you know that you're supposed to count to this high end, and when they quit bidding after five or six bids, you sell it. That's what timing is when you first start. Timing after you've learned is, I'm not quite through It's not quite makin' enough money. The people aren't quite done. I'm not quite done. I am done. We were there. It should be sold. It shouldn't be sold. Those are things that, what I'm talking about when I say timing, and you just have to, it's a feel. Good auctioneers have that feel. Auctioneers that sold a while, have that feel.
- What do we got, are they wether lambs? Ewe lambs? What?
- One's a ewe and ones a wether.
- Are you sure?
- I'm positive.
- [Mark] Joe's a gentleman. Joe's polite. He'll take care of you, Joe does, you know. He's about what you're looking for when you think of a perfect auctioneer. Joe will take the time to explain something to someone, and Joe will work with you. Joe realizes when he's selling to different buyers, whether they are able to. Joe will slow down for somebody that's gonna buy calves that's never been there before. He'll slow down enough so that they can understand him. And at the same time, when he is selling butcher cows, he'll just, he'll roll right along.
- The cattle will come in on a Friday. And my job is owning the sale yard, and my partner and I made a kind of agreement that we'd work the docks on every sale day if we could. And just keep that contact with the local people. A lot of our customers are repeat customers. In fact, most of 'em are. We get all the dairy farmers here in the local area. Come to our sale. So we try and work the dock, and we're here every Friday. I do all the selling. Dave does all the managing of the out back. And I do like to stay on the dock and out back with the people and stuff, because we do a lot of talking, and we know 'em and we appreciate their patronage. And so we also not only having a sale yard, but we keep good will with the people. That means a lot to us here running the yard. It means a lot for me, anyway.
- [Narrator] A lot goes on behind the scenes at a live stock market. At Joe's market, a large crew welcomes incoming animals. A veterinarian examines them. And there's mounds of paperwork. The clerk and ringman play important supporting roles. The clerk records the details of each sale. Ringmen help to spot bids and encourage buyers to bid.
- Sold! 1320 your way.
- [Joe] Knowing your bidders and knowing what the cattle are worth and stuff, for a livestock sale helps you a real lot. And I told enough of 'em that I know what they're worth. And I know the guy by first name, and I know about what he's gonna pay. And I know about what he wants. And I know about where he sits. A lot of 'em sit in the same place every week. So you think, "Jesus, how does he go so fast and get, you know, and he never misses any bids. And how does he know when they're done?" Well, guys sit in the same seat every week. They bid the same way every week, and the cattle are worth about the same. So to an outsider, it may look a little tougher than it is after you you've done it.
- [Mark] It's a challenge too. It's not easy to be, especially you would like to be, say for example, Joe Parypa or a lot of good, successful auctioneers, you know, that's a real challenge to achieve what they have. Joe will say, "Now, what you gotta do is you gotta get behind it a little more, you know?" "Well, what do you mean exactly?" Well, probably haven't reached that level yet or whatever. And then, then all of sudden, then six months later, Joe will say, "Good job. You had that enthusiasm. You backed it up. You know, you did it"
- If you buy this way, he'll take it the same way Sean and I would. He's got a good hand too. Mark Kuhn.
- [Narrator] Mark also learns from the way Joe manages his career. Joe sells autos in the city two days a week to support his love of livestock auctioneering.
- [Joe] These guys are getting into auction business at a good time. There's more and more businesses done by auctions all the time. Don't necessarily have to be cattle. Cattle is actually regressing. There's less cattle sold by auction every year. There's less cattle in the United States every year. We're a big dairy area. We got a lot of dairy cows. Our volume is just fine, but on a national level, there's less cattle in Washington, Western Washington. There's less cattle all the time. That should tell you something. We're not gonna be, or the cattle business in general is gonna be slower. It's not gonna be better. These guys are getting trained. They can go on something else and sell.
- [Mark] I'm not a big car person, but I do like livestock. And so I enjoy to sell it just for the fact that I enjoy that part of it, but cars, you know, it'd pay the bills, but I don't, you know. Well, everybody likes cars, but not like cows. That sounds crazy. What do you want? A black balded cow or a brand new Seville? I'll take the cow! Should take the Seville and then buy 10 cows. Okay, the ideal position would be to be able to sell at least one, maybe possibly two, livestock sales a week for the simple reason that I like that. I like livestock. The notoriety from it. I like the people. I like cows. Then, the other thing would be to, for example, Joe says, "Mark, what you need to do is get a sale going down in your country down there. Get yourself started down there." And because of my work, and working Saturdays at livestock sale, I haven't really been concentrating on what I'm doing there, and not taking the time to do that. But it's time to do that. True, it's time to expand. Come on, boy. It'd be nice to sell one or two. I wouldn't wanna just strictly, I would say somewhat like Joe, for example, for the fact that we enjoy livestock, and we'd like to always sell one livestock sale, but then be able to sell autos for a paying job, and then pick up some farm sales to supplement that.
- [Narrator] It's hard to know if Mark will be able to fulfill his dreams, both of staying in Warren and becoming a full-time auctioneer.
- [Mark] But I do like the rural lifestyle. I suppose if I was really, really busy that you wouldn't have time to do a lot of things that I do now. I think that I would like to raise my kids out in the country and I would rather live out there, and I'd always like to have a few cows to feed or something, you know? I think it's good for the kids, and it's kind of good therapy for me. Sometimes I can go talk to them and they understand, I don't know.
- [Narrator] People are increasingly making the choice to move to cities. But for some, like Mark, the rural life is very hard to leave behind. Many young people choosing to be auctioneers are among that group to whom rural life represents a heritage, a group of skills, and a way of life from which identity itself has derived. It's always been difficult to become an auctioneer. But today it is the rare rural auctioneer who can rely on selling multiple livestock sales as in the past. If Mark's to be successful, he must develop entrepreneurial skills and probably find work in the city, as well as his community. The fact that Mark's home of Warren, Oregon is close to the city of Portland, improves the odds that Mark can remain. Mark can continue to live in his community while taking advantage of his wife's city salary and the auctioneering opportunities that potentially exist in the city.
- Hopefully, I'm doing them a good job, and they feel that I am. And they don't give me a lot of guidance anymore, or they don't really say anything. I don't know if anybody been mad at me, lately, for a long time. But see, that'll push you a hundred percent when you're first new. I mean, they're gonna make you or break you. Hopefully, you'll be able to make it through. Right now I've just, basically, I'm trying to be patient and pay my dues as an apprentice auctioneer. Don't ever. That's why these boxes have a back door. Quick escape. After the sale, if it was bad sale, Then you go out the back door. Was it good sale? You drop out the front. Today it was alright. Bob, come out the front. He's talking to people.
- Next week. I may have to go out the back.
- Yeah.
- Now, I've been doing it for, I've been selling for 30 years, so I must like it, or I wouldn't have done it that long.
- I think it's one of the most interesting trades that a man can do. You never know what you're selling from day to day, and you never know what you're gonna get for it.
- It's a good business and auctioneers make good money, if you do it right and know how to handle your money. Why, they make awful good money. A good auctioneer can make an awful good wage. It's one of the top 10, maybe one of the top five professions or careers in the world right now.
- It really is simply, lovely, fun. The best thing that I can ever do. Easy for me. In fact, my favorite day is the day I get to get it. My favorite time of the day is when I get to get up here and sell. All the rest of the stuff that goes with the sale yard with the auction business is work. The money problems and the paperwork problems and all that. Hey, this is me. This is where it's at for me. It's right up here, this auction block.
- It's hard to demonstrate. It's something that just happens. Kind of like, I don't know. When you threw the ball real good, you know, when you were little, you know, "God, that was good." You know.
- He always loved animals. Farm animals. He likes that type of life. When we lived in Tigard, he had chickens, and some of the neighbors had never seen a chicken, I don't think. And here he had these chickens in the backyard, and they'd crow in the morning. The rooster would, and oh, he wasn't real popular with his chickens. But when we moved here, then it was much easier for Mark. He joined FFA and he was in Rodeo club in school. And he raised pigs and sold them to earn money when he was in high school. You know? So he was always in that line.
- I would say, I'm not through my apprenticeship, but I am. And through maybe the roughest part of it. Now they know who I am and that I can take care of myself. You know, "I think the kid's gonna be alright."
- [Narrator] One year later, the meat shop closed, and Mark lost his skilled rural job of butcher. He is working as a temporary laborer in Portland. Mark's responsibilities at the Twin City's Livestock Sale have grown. They've added a miscellaneous sale, which he's selling. Losing his butchering job has freed Mark to take his next step as an auctioneer. He's finally set up and sold some sales of his own in his country of Warren, Oregon.
