Cattle Auction

You need only hear 

the voice of an auctioneer in order to feel like you've been to a cattle auction.  As you'll see, you're in luck.

The most important advice I received before going to the cattle auction was to keep our hands down.  Brian (you'll remember him from Green's Ranch) said, "Ah, you don't have to worry.  They'll take one look at you all and know you don't mean it."

It was a warm day, reaching into the 70's, with a great ball of sunshine burning in the sky.  We arrived mid-morning and took in the sights.  This bumper sticker set the stage.

   

John Wayne.  I hadn't heard someone talk about him in years, and it made me smile to read the sign.  And remember.  We learned about Westerns during our summers stateside, watching them on TV with Uncle Carmine.  Gunsmoke, Bonanza, and western movies with John Wayne.

This was modern day ranching.  

The cattle were driven in on trucks as large as this one.  Though this was the only one of this size, there were scores of truck all around.  There were ranchers from ranches of all sizes.

As the cattle arrive at an auction, they are unloaded for the Cattle Inspector to inspect their brands.  In New Mexico, branding is a state law, and all brands are registered.  In order to be auctioned, a brand must be old enough to have 'peeled' and healed.  This is so that ranchers can be reasonably certain that someone hasn't swiped their cattle one day and sold them at auction the next -- before their rightful owner even discovers they're gone.  With ranches thousands of acres in size, ranchers don't see all of their cattle on a daily basis.

The cattle are then separated by similarity; size, age, and gender.  The job of sorting these cattle, pictured above, was one for three people.  One man sorted and drove the cattle down the path using what looks like a fly-swatter but is really a swatter with a piece of fabric at the end.  He snapped it at the cattle, separating two or three from the herd who then would move down the pathway.  The man would then shout out to the two others who were managing two vast iron gates.  Depending on the orders, one would open their gate and slam it shut after the cattle moved inside.  In short order, all of the cattle is divided into remarkably similar groups using flapping a few people, flapping fabric, and iron gates.

When it is time, the cattle are ushered up the right side in the photo above and moved into an arena for bidding.  When the bidding is done, they are released to someone on horseback who will herd them to a new corral, marked according to the purchaser.

Behind the auction house is a veritable maze of corrals and pathways.  Above the pens is a catwalk for ranchers to get a view of the cattle from above.  It is like window shopping.  The ranchers can see what cattle is available for purchase and make informed decisions before they bid.

The cattle range the gamut.  Some are robust and healthy while others show signs of a hard winter.  With two years of drought, New Mexico ranches have been hit hard.  And still, Brian told us, that is ranching.  You expect boom years, and you expect the year of drought.  It is all a part of the rancher's way of life.

This is the arena in which the cattle are sold.  We kept our hands  down and looked around.  We saw the finger lift, the nod, and the slight raise of the hand all indicating 'I'll meet that bid.'  We also saw a lot of nice looking cowboys hats.  As fine as they were, not one would have carried 10 gallons.  I asked Brian about the '10 gallon hat.'

He said that was an Eastern term.  When I looked it up more recently, I found two possible theories.  The first is that Stetson may have advertised that their hat could be used to carry water.  The second, and the theory that is more widely touted, is that the 10 gallon was actually a misinterpretation of the Spanish 10 galón (accent over the 'o') hat.  The latter referred to a Mexican sombrero with 10 braids (galónes) on them.

As promised, you will get the feel of a cattle auction by watching to this clip and listening to the auctioneer.

It really begs the question, "Why (and how) do auctioneers talk so fast?  Practice and then some.  More than half of the states require auctioneers to be licensed.  They learn a cadence, such as chanting pairs of numbers in ascending order -- 1-1-2-2-3-3 -etc, and then back down again.  They learn how to deliver conversation in that cadence and deliver it in rapid monotone.  When they are able to do that, take shallow breaths, and keep track of bids, they are well on their way.  

And why?  Auctioneers speak rapidly to create a sense of urgency and need for speed among the buyers.   "Buy now 'cause we're moving on."  They are also developing a hypnotic rhythm to lull the audience into the 'game' or rhythm of it.  And finally, auctioneers have a lot of cattle (or whatever they're selling to get through), and they get paid a commission (10-20%) on what they sell.

All very good reasons to keep your hands down.  Especially if you don't need a cow.

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