What started out as an unconventional idea on the part of two
livestock marketing veterans turned into the largest cattle
auction in the United States. Jim Odle, owner of Odle Auctions,
a video auction company in Brush, Colorado, and Buddy Jeffers,
the owner of Amarillo Livestock Auction, and Amarillo Video
Auction, had both been successful in conducting video auctions,
but only on a regional basis. The merger of their companies,
Superior Livestock Auction, created a national cattle market
for buyers and sellers. At the time of the merger, their combined
staff consisted of 15 representatives working in approximately
six different states. Today, Superior has over 300 representatives
with cattle marketed from 39 states nationwide.
When Buddy and Jim
created Superior Livestock, both Odle Auction
and Amarillo Livestock were conducting video
auctions, but the auctions were not broadcast
on satellite. The cattle were videotaped on the
ranch and then shown on closed-circuit televi-
sion in hotel ballrooms. Buyers had to travel to
the sale site to bid on the cattle. Neither
partner was totally convinced that broadcasting
on the satellite would work, but they wanted to
give it a shot.
Their unconventional idea became a proven
success at their very first auction held in
January, 1987, at the National Western Stock
Show in Denver, Colorado. Over 87% of the
cattle were sold over the telephone via C-B and
satellite, even though some of the largest cattle
buyers in the U.S. were present in the audience.
In 1989, John McKinley purchased an
interest in Superior Livestock. John brought
with him a rich heritage in the livestock mar-
keting business, having grown up working with his father, who
was a partner in McKinley-
Winters Livestock Auction in Dodge City,
Kansas.
When Superior Livestock Auction introduced national satellite
video marketing to the
livestock industry, they forever changed the
way load lots of cattle would be sold.
Up until the creation of Superior Livestock,
most cattle were sold by private treaty between
ranchers and local order buyers, and dealers.
Superior maximized the exposure of the seller’s
cattle. Buyers could now sit in the convenience
of their homes or offices to
view, evaluate and make
selections from cattle across
the county.
Buyers were able to view
and buy cattle from areas
all across the country, a feat
that would have been
prohibitive in terms of time
and mileage prior to the
advent of satellite market-
ing. Sellers benefit from the fact that their
cattle are videotaped in their natural environment and don’t
move until the delivery date. Superior has created a national
livestock
market, where price discovery is attained
through competitive bidding at a live auction.
Cattle are sold without regard to local climate
conditions to a greatly expanded buyer base.
In 2002 Superior Livestock Auction teamed
up with RFD-TV on the digital dish. Today,
Superior sells over 1.3 million head of cattle a
year over the television.
Contact information:
Superior Livestock Auction, Inc.
Video Horse Auctions
P O Box 38
Brush, CO 80723
800-422-2117 - Fort Worth, Texas office
800-523-6610 - Brush Business office
www.superiorlivestock.com
email: joe@superiorlivestock.com |
