Auction billed as largest in Sask. history

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Published: March 30, 2006

STOCKHOLM, Sask. – A veil of dust hung in the air, left by the seemingly endless stream of vehicles approaching a farmyard in eastern Saskatchewan.

An auction sale was about to unfold unlike any other in the history of the province. More than 80 parcels of land were to be sold, plus a staggering amount of farm machinery and other equipment.

“It’s a circus,” said Stefan Kuentzle, who had travelled to the sale from Starbuck, Man. “I’m just looking for the ferris wheel.”

For weeks, the March 24 farm auction of Don and Amy Gillen had been a topic of conversation in rural households and cafés across the Prairies. It was billed in the media as the largest in the history of Saskatchewan.

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Some people conjectured that financial troubles were at play. Others concluded that Don Gillen had passed away.

And behind it all was the question of whether this was a sign of things to come. Was this to be the year of a farmer exodus?

It was hard to tell whether Gillen was bemused or annoyed by the speculation.

As thousands of people milled around the yard site, he appeared calm and courteous to those who sought him out. When an auctioneer’s voice boomed through the sound system inviting bids on the farmland, Gillen’s features remained inscrutable.

“I don’t expect miracles, but sometimes they happen,” he said, when asked what he anticipated for prices at the sale. “I think the machinery is in good shape and there’s been a lot of interest.”

The farmland moved at a brisk pace, with bids coming from the crowd of people assembled and over the internet. There was so much land to sell that the auctioneer stopped at one point to clarify what had been sold and what was still available.

“You don’t get opportunities like this every day, boys,” said the auctioneer, inviting bids from the crowd. “This property’s going to appreciate for you. It’s reached the low point in its life here today.”

As each parcel of land sold, farmers and other observers jotted the prices in auction booklets they picked up when arriving at the sale. Even if they weren’t bidding, they were gaining an idea of land values in the area.

“You’re pretty good out of the gate,” chided the auctioneer, pressing the crowd for bids, “but you’re not much down the stretch.”

Most of the land was sold in parcels roughly the size of a quarter section. The lowest price for a quarter section was $15,000 and the highest was $45,000. One buyer bought about 28 quarter sections of farmland, mainly at a price of $28,000 per parcel.

As the selling of land progressed, an airplane flew overhead and returned to make another pass. The enormity of the sale was difficult to grasp from the ground.

While many assembled to watch the land sell, others milled around the large inventory of machinery or grain bins to be auctioned.

“I can’t believe the size of the crowd,” said Ron Brown, who grew up in the same rural community as Gillen. “For a farm sale, this is unheard of. I’ve never been close to anything like this. It’s incredible. Incredible.”

Although he lives on the opposite side of Saskatchewan, Brown was familiar with the speculation and rumours aroused by the Gillen auction.

“I couldn’t take any to heart,” he said, preferring to talk about what it was like to play with Gillen in senior men’s hockey.

“He’s a little different on the ice than he is off the ice. Put it this way, I liked to play with him, I didn’t like to play against him.”

Gillen is a tall, sturdy man with a considerable resumé as a hockey player. He was a standout in Saskatchewan junior hockey, advanced to the Western Hockey League and played in the NHL. During last week’s auction sale, he towered above most of the other people there.

In an interview, he confronted some of the speculation about reasons for the sale.

Was it because he was dead?

Evidently not.

Was it because of financial difficulties?

No, said Gillen, whose assets include oil producing wells near Kindersley and Smiley, Sask.

Instead, he said the strain of seeding and harvesting so much land was a factor, despite the dozens of “loyal and devoted” people employed in that effort.

The Gillens live in Saskatoon and began establishing their farm venture near Stockholm during the winter of 2002-03. Besides the 83 parcels of land auctioned last week, they were renting another 100 quarters of land.

“We were very fortunate in this region (last fall),” Gillen said. “We had an excellent harvest. I thought to myself, ‘man, with the kind of acreage we’re biting off here, if we end up in a tough fall, I’ll be pulling my hair out.’ It took us six weeks to combine and we had good conditions.”

The Gillens also considered the value of their farm machinery and the toll that depreciation and maintenance would take over time.

“If you add everything together, for our situation, it makes sense to sell, but I certainly think there’s a future for agriculture. It’s no different than any other business. It has its tough times, but the people who can manage through them and plan and make strategic investments will do very well,” said Gillen.

The auction began at 10 a.m. and ended around 6:30 p.m. There were close to 2,000 registered bidders, with most from Saskatchewan, followed by Manitoba and Alberta.

However, there was interest in the sale from across Canada, from as far south as Texas and from Scotland and Ireland.

The auction was handled by Ritchie Bros. auctioneers. Territory manager Peter Kennedy described the prices bid on machinery as “strong” and said the land sold in the range of what Ritchie Bros. anticipated.

The 2005 Case IH 8010 combines sold for just over $200,000, Kennedy said in an interview after the sale. Self-propelled 2005 Case IH swathers attracted prices between $60,000-$70,000.

Ritchie Bros. would not disclose the total value of the land, machinery, grain bins and tools sold at the auction.

“It was a lot of money,” said Kennedy. “That’s strictly confidential.”

About the author

Ian Bell

Brandon bureau

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