“
The first time I saw
him, he was just a kid,
but I told somebody
that he would become
one of the best ever.”
Family and friends from his home town in Berkeley
Springs are very proud of their World Champion, too!
regular auctioneer at the stockyard. Morris Brothers
was Neely’s sponsor for the world championship.
This year’s champion takes home a customized
2015 GMC Sierra truck to use during the year of
his reign; $5,000 cash; a championship bronze
sculpture; world champion Gist belt buckle and a
hand-tooled leather briefcase from LMA; world
champion ring sponsored by Clifton Livestock
Commission; the Golden Gavel Award sponsored
by the World Wide College of auctioneering and a
James Reid, Ltd. Money clip sponsored by Cattle
USA.com. Neely is looking forward to serving
as an ambassador of the Livestock Marketing
Association and livestock marketing industry as
he travels across the United States visiting auction
markets and attending industry events.
But wanting it and making it happen are different
things. Being able to talk fast is just one of the arrows
a good auctioneer needs in a quiver. Competitors are
judged on things like clarity, voice quality, speed and
knowledge of the product they’re selling. So you not
only have to be able to say the words quickly and clearly,
you must know the difference between an angus and a
brangus or a California red and a Cameroon sheep, as
well as the condition of the current livestock market.
This was Neely’s ninth year of competing in the
livestock contest. He’s won regional championships
before and, in 2007, won the Audrey K. Banks Rookie
of the Year honors from the Livestock Marketing
Association. He says those eight previous visits to the
competitions helped him get better. “You learn what
to do and what not to do,” he says. “You have to learn
things like basic presentation and bid-catching ability,
and to be able to feel the flow of the crowd.”
One of the people Neely impressed early on was
Lee Morris, himself a professional auctioneer and
co-owner of Morris Brothers Stockyard, in Pikeville,
Tennessee. “The first time I saw him, he was just a
kid, but I told somebody that he would become one
of the best ever,” says Morris. “I never knew he’d be
a world champion, though. That’s hard to do. Morris
was so struck by Neely’s skills, after opening Morris
Brothers four years ago, he went after him to be a
“You have to have cattle savviness and know what
cattle are and what they are worth, and he has to be
honest,” Morris says. “People have to see it in you and
believe you. He is dealing with professional buyers and
they will know it right away if you are not honest.”
You also must keep an eye out across the entire
room in order to catch the subtle bids thrown by
the professional buyers in attendance. “It’s like any
employee,” Morris says. “Some show up and do little
and some show up and do it all. That’s what separates
Brandon.” Having a world champion caller is good for
business, Morris says, but more importantly, it’s good
for customers who come to his stockyard to buy and
sell livestock.
While there are schools that teach auctioneering,
Neely says the key for him was finding a mentor or two
who taught him the basics, then just going out and doing
it.“You need time in H