Producer’s Livestock Auction hosted the Western Regional Auctioneer Contest at the sale barn in Salina on Tuesday, September 28 with the event bringing in people from across the Western United States.
“We had 24 participants in the competition with hometowns from Virginia to California,” said Wayne Cowley. “Judges for the event came anywhere from Florida to California, and we had a really good turnout. It was a good day, and the event went off really well.”
Of the contestants, only three could be on site at a time, so when not competing they spent the day at the R Building, with a Gurney Trucking van acting as shuttle. The Robins’ at Salina’s Subway donated food for the contestants throughout the day and Salina City lent tables and chairs, and Cowley said the community effort and involvement was greatly appreciated.
Eric Drees from Idaho earned the Western Region Championship, with Sixto Paiz from Texas as runner up and Steve Goedert, Montana, as the reserve runner up. Jake Parnell, California, was named the Top Rookie in the competition.
The top ten in each the Western, Central, and Eastern Regions are invited to participate in the world championship competition held in Indiana next June.
The Salina sale barn is the biggest in Utah, and likely in the Intermountain West, and employs six full time employees and 30-40 on Tuesdays, the day of the auctions, year-round. Cowley, Bob Bagley, Greg Harwood, and Greg Torgersen are the auctioneers, and through none of them participated in the competition, Bagley did back in the ‘80’s and did quite well.
The company was established in 1935 and the building was built in 1968 as they celebrated fifty years in 2018. Cowley has been there for the past 25 years.
