REGINA — Ryan Dorran and Ben Wright don’t think of themselves as torchbearers for the next generation of livestock salesmen.
However, both have been im-mersed in the purebred cattle world all their lives and started working livestock sales when they were barely out of their teens.
They have been mentored along the way by parents, breeders and the older generation of auctioneers and ringmen working sales across North America.
Wright, 27, grew up and lives at Hanover, Ont., where his family has 50 fullblood Simmentals. He and his father, Carl, also sell grass seed in Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan for ProRich Seeds.
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The hours are long and he figures he takes 65 flights a year and drives thousands of kilometres selling seeds and cattle.
Wright’s father also worked as a ringman for the Alberta based livestock sales management company Transcon Livestock and encouraged him to try working sales as well. As a result, he has been busy since he started eight years ago.
“I have never made a resume in my life,” Wright said between working sales at Canadian Western Agribition Nov. 11-16.
An avid hockey player as a youngster, he gets the same competitive adrenaline rush working the high paced, high priced purebred sales. He has to be on his toes with enough agility not to miss bids and the stamina to travel across the country.
“It’s like a sport, and I’ve met a lot of good people along the way,” he said.
His first sale was working with his father. Stage fright set in with sweaty palms and beating heart, but he was soon hooked.
Wright’s largest sale was for Wat-Cha Land and Cattle Co., a large Charolais cattle dispersal in Ontario held in 2007 after its owner, Charlie Watson, died in 2006 at Agribition. There were 800 people in attendance and the event was emotional because Wright’s father had been a close friend of Watson’s.
“That is a sale I’ll always remember,” he said.
The marketing community is small, and entrance and acceptance are hard won for someone interested in joining the fraternity.
“There aren’t that many doing that. It is a tight knit group,” he said.
“I have been fortunate to be accepted by a lot of the sales managers. One of the benefits I’ve had in coming into Western Canada is that lots of people in Ontario buy cattle out here. I’ve been able to send cattle from here out there.”
His weekends are full, working at sales at a venue such as Agribition or on farms, where the events are broadcast live over the internet.
For Wright, a major adventure will come after Agribition, when he will join his friend Dorran to sell Canada’s largest racehorse event in London, Ont. They will wear tuxedoes for the first time and sell four legged critters neither know well.
For Dorran, selling his first Agribition sale this year made him feel like he had arrived in the big leagues.
He has big shoes to fill. His father is Steve Dorran, one of the top purebred auctioneers in North America.
Ryan was interested in the business from the beginning and started to learn the ropes from mentors such as his father, grandfather Louis Latimer and uncle Bryan Latimer.
“A whole lot of my family were pretty influential,” he said.
Dorran grew up showing 4-H cattle but does not own his own herd because he sees that as a conflict of interest.
He was 20 years old when he worked his first event at a production sale in December at Westaskiwin, Alta. It was cold and he was nervous, but his father said he needed ring experience if he wanted to get into the business.
The next day he was hired to work the Checkers Sale, one of Canada’s largest Simmental sales.
He went to auctioneer school in Missouri at age 22 and soon learned that the marketing chain was hard work and definitely not a nine to five job.
He now sells 80 sales a year.
He has learned to sell video sales, blend in with internet broadcasts and figure how to work a crowd to tease out a few more dollars.
“I’m a pretty shy person, actually, but the more you get to know people, it’s easier to be more outgoing.”
He has had to learn pedigrees, the quality of livestock and how to understand people. Being the new kid on the block has not been a deterrent and customers have been patient.
“Breeders have been really receptive about trying new people, and so it has been great from that aspect. The cattle industry is the best industry in the world,” he said.
He is not worried about dispersals and shrinking herds.
“I think there are enough young people coming up that this thing will be fine,” he said.
The business is also a large part of his social life: he has made life-long friends showing cattle and working at their sales.
Dorran also met his wife, Cassie, at Agribition. She had come to one of his sales, where she bought a $14,000 Hereford heifer that she showed later. A former American Hereford queen, she moved to Alberta to be with him and now works for the Canadian Angus Association.
His goal is to be a full-time auctioneer and he visits farms, contacts former customers and keeps current with their programs.
“It is a good way to get out and meet the people. It is good to get your face out there.”
