After four stabs at the Calgary Stampede auctioneer championship, Randy Searer was beginning to feel more like the bridesmaid than the bride.
An elated Searer pegged it this year when he became the international competition’s grand champion.
“I hoped I’d win,” he said. “I never thought it would come this soon.”
He returned home to Sydney, Montana, with a $5,000 cheque and an assortment of other prizes.
When he is not selling cattle, he is back at his ranch where he and wife Pattie run 100 commercial Angus cows.
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An auctioneer since 1986, the 37 year-old enters several competitions a year, hoping to grab the brass ring.
The reserve champion was Matt Lowery of Burwell, Nebraska.
This year’s contest drew 26 entries from Canada, the United States and Australia.
There’s more to auctioneering than chanting and selling a few steers.
Five judges evaluate the contestants on their appearance, mannerisms and deportment. They have to be able to spot the bids and run a sale well. They must understand livestock and demonstrate repartee with the sales crowd. The judges also listen to clarity, voice control and rhythm.
Other competitions at the Stampede also drew wide interest and big prize money.
The Sterling Silver carcass competition sponsored by Cargill Foods awarded first place to a Speckle Park steer entered by Wayne and Arlene Gould of A & W Farms at Islay, Alta. They won $5,000.
Carcasses are evaluated on rib eye area, warm carcass weight, conformation-muscling, average fat thickness, overall fat distribution, fat colour, rib eye colour and marbling. The point system is based on Cargill’s certified Sterling Silver beef standards.
Anita Doktor received a $2,500 cheque for winning the reserve champion with her Hereford entry. This was17- year-old Doktor’s second time at the competition and her first win.
A new heifer event called halter to hook saw the Daines Cattle Co. of Innisfail, Alta., win first and second place with Maine-Anjou cross females.
The supreme champion competition puts the grand champions of 17 beef breeds together in the ring for the final judgment. The Simmental breed took the honors for supreme bull and female.
Twelve-year-old Kyle Lewis of Spruce Grove, Alta., received $10,000 for his supreme champion female. Bobbi-Gayle Hosegood of Didsbury, Alta., won the bull side of the competition. She won the supreme champion female in 1993.
