Their lives are calling: CC residents graduate from College of Auctioneering

By Kate Hayden, khayden@charlescitypress.com

The big brown bug with the big brown bear. The bigbrownbugwitdabigbrownbear.

Practice that for nine hours a day with incremental speed, as clearly and concisely as possible. You’re nine hours closer to understanding an auctioneer’s beginning warm-up.

Auctioneers are known for keeping sales of livestock, equipment and benefit items moving at a tidy pace with their famous “chants,” almost musically rhythmical as they track bids in busy auctions.

Each chant is different, said newly trained auctioneer Lee Hoeft.

“What every auctioneer wants to do is they want to practice either a good one they feel is good for their chant — and then they can go rolling into their numbers before a cattle auction or a benefit auction,” Hoeft said.

Hoeft, of Charles City, and Brad Farmer, a Charles City native, built up their auctioneering voices this June, as part of a nine-day course at World Wide College of Auctioneering in Mason City.

With the guidance of 22 instructors from the school, Farmer, Hoeft and 48 others from the U.S. and Canada developed the rhythms that keep their chants clear and exciting while calling auctions.

The WWCA originated in Mason City and offers an intensive, nine-day training program three times a year for students to be coached by professional and contest-winning auctioneers.

Instructors teach not only the chants auctioneers are known for, but also managing the organization of a sale, advertising and other requirements that make a livestock, real estate or personal estate sale run smoothly.

“They always say the auctioneer has an obligation to the seller, but they also have an obligation to the buyer,” Farmer said. “You’ve got to do the best you can to keep your seller happy, and you’ve got to do the best you can to keep your buyer happy.”

After each 12-hour day of classes, students had the option to stay at the Mason City location for two more hours and work with instructors individually.

“We’d go up to our hotel room after we get done or the instructor leaves, and stay there until midnight or so and work on what we need to,” Hoeft said. “They push you and keep you going, because they want you to be a successful auctioneer.”

Farmer and Hoeft both grew up visiting livestock or estate auctions with their families. Farmer said he was always interested in auctioneering. He had finished calling one auction during a friend’s wedding reception a few years ago when he was approached by a full-time auctioneer who was attending.

“He came up to me afterward and asked me if I had thought about going to auction school before,” Farmer said. “I’ve always wanted to go, but with working the farm and working a job in town, finding the time to go and take nine days off straight to commit — it’s tough.”

“I put some real good thought into it and thought, ‘you know, I’m going to do it.'”

Farmer is establishing his own service, Farmer Auction Service LLC out of Osage, and he is assisting other established auctioneers to build on his experience. Later on, Farmer intends to get a real estate and broker’s license as well.

“I’m just trying to get my name out there, to start at the bottom and work my way up,” Farmer said.

Hoeft, an incoming senior at Charles City High School, grew up going to livestock auctions at the Waverly Sale Barn with his dad. He started thinking about auctioneering as a potential career during this past school year, when he found himself in the hallway.

Bored during a break, Hoeft started fidgeting with his hands, then counting — “I slowly started going, ‘one now two now three now four’ with my hands.”

“It’s like, oh, well, this might be a possible career that I could possibly go into,” Hoeft said about his realization.

He called his first benefit auction for the Charles City FFA chapter’s spring banquet, and he assisted the auction during the grand opening of the Floyd County Youth Enrichment Center before he started classes with WWCA. Hoeft also took Spanish classes with WWCA to become a bilingual auctioneer.

“It was a fun class to take and learn,” Hoeft said. “That skill is going to help you out a long ways. … You’ve got another thing that you can add on to your business.”

Now, Hoeft works with Jerry Hegtvedt at Cedar Valley Iowa Realty & Auction Co. and calls some benefit auctions on his own. Hoeft plans to continue working for Hegtvedt and run his own mowing and landscape company, and will try out for the high school track team this year — while continuing to volunteer for the state fair, the county fair, RAGBRAI and other community events.

Hoeft said he enjoys working with livestock auctions, but benefit or fundraiser auctions give him a chance to meet new people, he said.

“There’s a lot of new people coming in, and you don’t know who’s going to be there,” he said.

“That auction environment you get in, it’s a whole different … atmosphere,” Farmer said. “It’s a successful atmosphere, a positive atmosphere. There’s a lot of integrity in the auction profession. It’s just a good thing to be around I think.”

“I know I’ve gotta crawl before I walk,” he said. “It’s a long road, but I’m ready to go down it. I’m excited and look forward to it.”