Virden area cattleman and auctioneer, Rick Wright has been synonymous with the Manitoba livestock marketing industry for decades.
Wright has served with the Manitoba Livestock Marketing Association as Executive Administrator for multiple years, as well as on the Board of Directors for the Livestock Markets Association of Canada. He has been recognized for his work on improving the livestock marketing industry both for Manitoba cattle producers as well as on a national level.
Ten days ago, Wright reached a personal milestone in his career of judging multiple competitions across the country. He was selected to be one of five judges at the World Livestock Auctioneering Championships in Oklahoma City on June 15th. This is the second time a Canadian has been selected as a judge for the live competition since its inception in 1963.
The Oklahoma Stockyards in Oklahoma City are the oldest and the largest stockyards in the U.S. and they sold just under 11,000 cattle that day.
"It was a 'bucket-list' thing for me and certainly I was humbled and proud to be a representative from Canada and acknowledged in the industry at the World Championships," shares Wright. "I was fortunate enough that I was selected and then given the opportunity to judge at the qualifier in Minnesota in October and I guess they liked what we did there and offered me the chance to be on the 5-member judging team for the live competition at Oklahoma City."
"I was extremely excited about that," he adds. "I was quite surprised when the phone rang when I was offered the opportunity to do that. It didn't take me too long to make up my mind!"
With this judging event under his belt, Wright has judged in every major livestock auctioneering competition in Canada; the Canadians, the international competition at Calgary, Regina's Agribition and now the World Championships.
Judges are listening and watching each contender on their presentation and chant, and the execution of the sale. Score categories include professionalism, poise, body language and eye contact, clarity, rhythm and timing, voice quality and control, knowledge of the market value of the product, bid catching and accuracy. Also, the judges need to score the contender on how likely they would be to hire the auctioneer. During the interview portion of the competition competitors are judged on their abilities as a spokesperson for the livestock industry, which counts as 25% of their semi-final and final round scores.
Wright says they're also watching to see if the auctioneer can sustain beyond just a handful of drafts. "Some guys can do five drafts, but can they do it for an all-afternoon sale? So, it's quite technical and they got between 8 and 10 drafts to sell depending on which round they were in, so we got a good chance to listen to each and every one of them."
Virden's Heartland Livestock's own Brennin Jack was one of 2 Canadians competing against 30 other auctioneers from across North America in Oklahoma City. He landed in the top 10!
"Brennin has been going for quite a while and he usually gets in the top ten," says Wright, "and so he's been very successful at it and he's an excellent auctioneer. I thought that he had a chance of being a winner this year. I thought he had a very good run. When you get up and sell, I thought he did extremely well. But it is the top 31 auctioneers from across Canada and the United States that are there. They were all top-notch auctioneers!"
Please listen to more with Rick Wright below!
Rick Wright was selected as the 2014 inductee to the Livestock Markets Association of Canada's Marketer’s Hall of Fame.
(Photo credit the LMAC and 2024 World Livestock Auctioneer Championship videos)