This week, I attended four auctions – two bull sales, one farm dispersal and our regular cattle auction. Auctions are always more exciting when you’re in the seats either looking to buy or sell, but there’s still something about just the atmosphere surrounding an auction that is special.

It’s capitalism in one of its purest forms. It’s competition, and buying and selling is both an art and a science. It’s a social event that’s filled with familiar faces, and usually plenty of good food. But there’s also an air of electricity that’s a combination of uncertainty and anticipation that accompanies an auction.  

Everyone has their own strategy at an auction. Intending no offense, I’ll describe a few styles – tongue in cheek, of course – this way:

With all that said, an auction is price discovery at its most visceral level. At one level, there are no friends at an auction, but on another level it’s a truly friendly competition.

The auction experience isn’t unique to agriculture; after all, there are car auctions, art auctions, real estate auctions, you name it. eBay’s whole business model is built on a scaled-down version of the auction concept. But auctions are, and always will be, part of the heart and soul of agriculture.

No other industry is so comfortable with its practitioners putting their life’s work up to the public to decide its worth year after year. Perhaps more importantly, no other industry is willing to truly value that life’s work. Whether the market is soaring or crashing, we accept and value that judgment that only an auction can bring.

The opinions of Troy Marshall are not necessarily those of beefmagazine.com and the Penton Agriculture Group.
 

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