The World Livestock Auctioneer Championship, as depicted in the 1976 Werner Herzog documentary How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck?
In June 1963, Livestock Marketing Association held the first annual World Livestock Auctioneer Championship (WLAC). The purpose: to spotlight North America’s top livestock auctioneers and to salute their traditionally important role in the competitive livestock marketing process. Auctioneers from the United States and Canada came to the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Denver, Colorado to show off their auctioneering talents. Twenty-three contestants sold the same 20 head of cattle over and over again.
Based in Kansas City the World Livestock Marketing Association sells CDs and videos of champion livestock auctioneers. You can listen streaming audio of world championship auctioneers from 1963-2004 here. This year’s championships will be held in Fergus Falls, Minnesota on June 13th.
A scene from How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck:
