BROOKS, Alta. – Chance Martin has won the Canadian livestock auctioneer championship and is ready to take on the world.
The 36-year-old auctioneer and beef producer from Red Deer won the national championship May 29 in Brooks. He has competed in the national competition every year since it started 12 years ago.
There were 25 competitors, one of the largest fields in recent years.
Reserve champion was Rod Burnett of Valley Auction in Armstrong, B.C., rookie of the year was Shawn McNary of Dryland Cattle Trading Corp. in Veteran, Alta., and most congenial auctioneer was Eric Fazakas of Bow Slope Shipping in Brooks.
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Martin ended a long drought for Canadian competitors when he chanted his way to the top at the Calgary Stampede international livestock auctioneer competition in 2007.
He has entered the world competition about eight times but only one person, Dan Skeels, his colleague at Vold Jones and Vold at Ponoka, Alta., has won all three championships.
Judges listen to clarity, rhythm, breathing and ability to spot bids and consider if they would hire this person to run a sale.
Martin went to auctioneer school in Billings, Montana, a month after graduating from high school in 1990. His father started auctioning in 1988.
“It’s a long two weeks. They give you the tools. They can’t teach you to sell good,” he said.
An auctioneer is like a singer who must maintain voice and breathing control.
“If you don’t start practising, you won’t make it,” Martin said.
He started at farm sales and eventually worked at Burnt Lake Auction at Red Deer in 1993 before joining VJV at Ponoka where he conducts live sales three days a week and Canadian satellite auctions.
He believes selling cattle by the pound is true price discovery and using an auctioneer who knows livestock makes a better sale.
He and his wife, Trina, and their four children run a 400 cow-calf operation, of which about 300 of the cows are Speckle Park. The cows are bred back to Salers, producing a multi-coloured herd of black, red and spotted.
He finishes them at the farm and maintains an extensive yearling program of about 2,000.
