Born to sell livestock

ON THE ROSTRUM: Ben Wright, centre, had to auction three lots at Canterbury Park as part of the Heartland Bank Young Auctioneers Competition.

Working with livestock runs in the family for Ben Wright, who recently won this year’s Heartland Bank Young Auctioneers Competition at Canterbury Park. Colin Williscroft reports.

CONFIDENCE is key if you want to be a good auctioneer, Ben Wright says.

The Feilding-based PGG Wrightson auctioneer says the goal is always to achieve the best possible result for the vendor and some self-confidence, along with a bit of charisma, helps to achieve that.

“You’ve got to have a bit of character about you, to be able to relate to the crowd, know when it’s right to have a laugh and when it’s not,” Wright said.

“But confidence is the main thing. And having a good voice.

“Some people are lucky in that it probably comes a little bit more naturally to them than others.”

Wright got into auctioneering through a PGG Wrightson traineeship in Feilding.

“You go in pretty green and someone takes you under their wing and teaches you the ropes,” he said.

“Once you get in there, we do that much selling (in Feilding) the guys throw you in the deep end and see if you go all right or not.

“I enjoyed it from early on, enjoyed getting out there, enjoyed being out the front.

“It just started from there and didn’t really stop.”

That it came naturally should come as no surprise, with his father Dave a well-respected Manawatū livestock agent and brother Sam a PGG livestock agent and auctioneer in Hawke’s Bay.

“It just kind of fell into place. It was something I’d always wanted to do, but I wanted to get a bit of travel out of the way first and then come back and make a go of it,” he said.

He says growing up on a small family farm in Manawatū, he’d been interested in livestock from early on.

“I used to spend days with Dad on his job and I loved coming to the sale yards,” he said.

“In the school holidays I’d go down there to see what was going on, so it was probably something that was always going to happen, it was just a matter of time.”

After spending a year at Lincoln and another few years overseas, Wright decided it was time to come home.

He got into the trainee programme and then a sheep and beef role became available in Manawatū at just the right time.

“It was good, I didn’t have to go far and I slotted in straight away. I knew a lot of the clients anyway, so it worked out pretty well,” he said.

Wright was one of eight contestants vying for the young auctioneer of the year title in Christchurch.

It was his second attempt at the competition, having come third two years ago before being unable to take part last year after breaking his shoulder.

“It was something I’d been working towards this year; going down there and trying to get the win,” he said.

The competition consisted of an interview with three judges and auctioning three lots as part of an all stock excluding store cattle sale.

Wright says during the interview the judges wanted to know about his selling experience before running through scenario-based questions on subjects including sale terms and conditions and dealing with situations that might occur during a sale.

The three lots were auctioned under a cents per kilo format rather than dollars per head, which he is more used to.

“It was a little bit different but once I got going, I was all right,” he said.

“Although I was a bit nervous, to be fair.

“I can jump up on a rostrum here (Feilding) on a Friday and, being in front of a crowd you know at a facility you know, it’s fine.

“But being down there (Christchurch) and there’s three people judging you, there’s a bit of pressure on you to perform, which adds to the nerves.”

For winning the event, Wright took home $2000, along with the opportunity, all going well with border restrictions, to represent NZ at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney next year.

“I’m looking forward to going to Australia and giving it a crack,” he said.

“I’ve probably never sold in front of that number of people before, but we’ll see how we go.

“It’ll be a great opportunity to meet people and see the Sydney show.”

In the meantime, he will get on with continually improving his craft on the job in Feilding.

“Every day you’re learning new things, gaining more experience and knowledge about the industry and how it works.”

He says he’s fortunate to be based where he is, with plenty of opportunities to hone his skills and experienced auctioneers to learn from.

“They help us out quite a bit,” he said.

“They point out what you’ve done well and what you haven’t, which is good. You just need to listen to them.

“They’ve had years of practice and earned the respect of a lot of people, so you take everything they say on board, then try to put your own twist on it and see where you go from there.

“The more you do, the better you get, so we’re quite blessed here. We get to sell at least twice a week. Busy times it could be three or four times a week.

“That’s one of the advantages of being in Feilding.

“If you enjoy selling, you’ll get plenty of it.”

He’s also grateful for the support he’s received from local farmers.

“I was lucky that when I came into the role, a lot of guys knew that I hadn’t been around forever, but they stuck with me,” he said.

“We’ve built on relationships since then and things are going really well, so it’s a credit to them that they’ve stayed with me, which I appreciate.

“It’s always good when people are willing to give you a shot.”

Every day you’re learning new things, gaining more experience and knowledge about the industry and how it works.