America’s Land Auctioneer
Captivate and celebrate the dynamics of rural America, American Agriculture and inspire and teach others how to live a bold and abundant life in rural America. Background: The intrigue, endless opportunities, and romance of rural life in America have never been more on the minds of Americans. The recent pandemic and civil unrest have Americans of all ages earning for a more peaceful, less hectic life. Even billionaire Bill Gates is now the largest crop landowner in America. As many Americans look for peaceful refuge in the rolling hills and wheat fields they are faced with a richness of opportunities. But where do you begin to look? This show will highlight and feature endless opportunities in every state. What is it that is so unique about rural America, the land and what it produces? How can I live that life? The American Land Auctioneer will tell stories and weave into those stories a place for you to dream, live and enjoy the abundance of all that rural America has to offer.
America’s Land Auctioneer
Behind the Hammer: Insights from America's Land Auctioneers
Step into the fast-paced world of agricultural auctions with this engaging conversation between host Jim Sabe and special guest Cliff Sanders, a veteran livestock auctioneer who recently joined the Pifer's team. Their friendship spans decades, beginning at auctioneer school in Mankato, Minnesota, where both men stood out wearing cowboy hats among their classmates.
The auction market remains remarkably strong despite economic uncertainties. A recent Fent tractor sold for $395,000, highlighting how premium equipment still commands top dollar. The podcast showcases several upcoming sales, including the Sheely auction in Drake featuring pristine 2017-2019 John Deere equipment that was professionally maintained and stored indoors. Another upcoming sale in Mandan features a 2012 Bobcat with just 35 hours – virtually new despite its age.
Sanders brings a distinctive livestock auctioneer's cadence to machinery sales, maintaining the faster pace that livestock auctioneers are known for. His territory covers eastern North Dakota, including the Devil's Lake region where he previously worked at the auction barn. Throughout the conversation, both auctioneers emphasize that live auctions with online bidding consistently outperform online-only formats, drawing buyers from across North America.
The social dimension of auctions emerges as a central theme. As Albert Roerick from Pifer's Steel location explains, "Building relationships is the main thing with all the sellers, buyers." These relationships extend beyond individual sales, with auctioneers often connecting buyers with specific equipment they're seeking. In rural communities, auctions serve as gathering places where neighbors reconnect, highlighting their importance beyond just commerce.
Join us to discover why quality farm equipment continues to bring strong prices, how the hybrid auction model maximizes returns, and why the personal connections forged at rural auctions remain irreplaceable in our increasingly digital world. Check out Piferscom for upcoming sales across the Upper Midwest!
Follow at www.americalandauctioneer.com and on Instagram & Facebook
Contact the team at Pifer's
Welcome to America's Land Auctioneer. I'm Jim Sabby, I'm your host for this Saturday morning and I tell you what Piper's been busy here over the last 10 days and it's going to be a busy spring for us all. But this last week we had a big sale over here in steel us all. But this last week we had a big sale over here in uh steel and I tell you what. What a tremendous sale. This is probably the best sale I've ever had on this site. Uh, good quality equipment. Um, you know I've never sold so many side by sides in our in our whole life here, but, uh, it was a great sale. And, uh, you know, on monday night we had an open house. It's a piper's 25th anniversary, um, so we're putting on a little welcoming to everybody If they want to come out and visit with us and talk about the auction business or just talk about the last 25 years. We're going to have plenty more of them to go to. Steeles was well attended and we appreciate everybody coming.
Speaker 2:And then the sale was the next day, the live and online. And then Wednesday was online only sale, which is virtual when we have some auctioneers auctioning off the ring too. And then we moved to. We had a great sale up in Crosby, north Dakota, larson, north Dakota, a land sale up there. And then Thursday we had a huge sale up there in Berthold, north Dakota, for the Lee auction. I tell you what Christian Miller has been working his butt off up there. But what a great family to work with up there in Berthold, north Dakota for the Lee auction. I tell you what Christian Miller has been working his butt off up there. But what a great family to work with up there. A lot of stuff. It was a long day for all of us that day.
Speaker 2:And then Friday everybody gets to go home and it's Good Friday and we're going to have Easter next weekend. But you know we've had some good moisture over this. Last week. I know at home we've had about a half inch of rain, three-quarters of an inch of rain. I know at Medora had a little snow, heddinger had a little snow, but you know what it's moisture. We need that. So again, this radio show is American Land Auctioneer. You know what? We've got a great guest on here today, a very good friend of mine and he's been a livestock auctioneer at a sale barn and he's been working very hard at, you know helping us out Whenever we need help. He's always come here to help with the auctions.
Speaker 3:But Cliff Sanders, my guest from Clifford, north Dakota, and first of all, why don't you tell us where you grew up and how you got to Clifford, north Dakota? Oh hey, thanks, jim. It's kind of an honor to be on here. It's been a long time coming.
Speaker 4:I grew up north of Minot.
Speaker 3:North Dakota, in a little area called Glenburn North Dakota, right by an airbase, Farmed and ranched. My whole life Grew up at the sale barn in Minot. Always wanted to be an auctioneer, so here we are today.
Speaker 2:You know, and that's true, and you know, cliff and I never knew each other until we went to auctioneer school. And when we went down there and now you can see one of us has aged a little bit more than the other but we went down to Mankato, minnesota, to our auction school and it was a week long down there, got to be pretty good friends. There was three of us at that auction, uh, that basically wore cowboy hats, you know, and uh. So we uh, we enjoyed it, we had a great time, got to be good friends throughout the whole thing and kind of kept in touch with cliff every time I was over in the eastern side of the state. I actually helped him with one of his auctions when he was holding a farm sale and then he started being auctioneer at a sale barn and every Tuesday his time was taken up, or Monday also from sorting cattle.
Speaker 2:So been after Cliff for many years to come join our team and he finally gave in to my pressure and he said you know what, I'll join. I said we need help up in that northeast corner, uh, and he'll be in that mayville and hillsborough and and actually you know, eastern side of north dakota, but uh, he'll headquarter out of clifford and when we get our new site built there at hillsborough, uh, he'll be working there quite a bit. So it's been a great pleasure bringing him on. But, cliff, I know you've only been on here well, a little over a month now. You've been to a lot of our auctions. What do you see? That kind of does a highlight thing for you when you think you know I get to be in the auction business. You're still doing a lot of auctioneering, but you're now going out after contracts to sell machinery.
Speaker 3:Yeah well, the main thing that I like is the people. You get to visit with people and one fun thing is that the strong demand for equipment.
Speaker 2:I mean even where the world sits today we're still a good, strong demand for good equipment. There's always a strong demand for really good equipment. But you know, you've been on the livestock end and when people hear you auction they say, wow, you can tell he's a livestock auctioneer. And you've done it for quite a few years and you do a lot of charity auctions around the country. But one thing about it you can always tell a livestock auctioneer because they're a little bit faster than everybody else and they like to keep things rolling and moving right along.
Speaker 2:So, um, you know, when you were at auction school and I don't remember how many was in our class 20 probably. I don't remember what was in there, it was 19 actually. But, um, we knew there was going to be three, four of us that were. You know, we're going to be pretty decent in the business if we went back into it. I already started been working for pipers when I went and know we could tell.
Speaker 2:But there was another gentleman and he's passed now but out of Bellefour area, was a great mentor for us. He was a little bit older, so we called him dad all the time down there when we were at auction school. But the other ones we knew a lot of them were just there to take up. You know they wanted to learn the trade and know what's going on.
Speaker 2:And one thing about it we have learned a lot of things from that day forward and we learned probably a lot more out of auctioneer school, in which you'll see that in every school you go to you'll learn more out on the job, daily, working all the time. But you know, to get you back into it, you know it's a little bit different now when you've got to go from door to door, or you know you're good at greeting people, so you'll be all right there. And it'll be one of those days where all of a sudden you'll hit the jackpot and pull out a big sale, but you know you're already getting some stuff booked for a June auction, so how's that going for you?
Speaker 3:Really good. It's been received very good in the country. On that June 16th auction, a lot of people are interested and, like you said, it's taken a little time but it's kind of coming together and people are really looking forward to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's going to be a big sale that will be virtual, with the live, with the auctioneers, but it'll be online only. But you can go to any one of our sites and sit there and watch the sale and bid on the site basis. But we recommend guys just stay and bid online. But if you need to come and sit in one of our sites, we're more than welcome to have you there. I know the last one we did in Bowman was perfect. We had, you know, a few people sitting in there bidding and they got what they wanted and they were happy. And back then I think that sale was only I don't know, were we two hours on that sale? Probably. I don't know what it was you were there auctioning, yeah. So it was a great aspect to what we're doing.
Speaker 2:But now you know we've got space. Well, I shouldn't say this. We've got places in the state that we kind of are not getting to and that's kind of why we targeted you up there. I mean, you worked at the auction barn in Devil's Lake, so that whole country knows you up there. And of course you grew up north of Minot. People up there know you and then you also lived in Castleton, so you know a lot of people in that area, so you've got a pretty big area to draw from when things are going to get lively for you, when you get out on the road and I know you're going to a lot of auctions right now, kind of learning what we do.
Speaker 3:But you know kind of talk about. You know the clients that you're seeing out there right now and what they're looking for. Well, you know, with the livestock market the way it sits right now and what they're looking for. Well, you know, with the livestock market the way it sits right now, I mean we're probably seeing the highest cattle market we've ever seen and maybe we'll ever see. So there's people are looking for, you know, cattle equipment. I mean fencing they're really into that and anything skid steer mounts and and all that kind of stuff. I mean everybody's looking for a little something different. You you know newer tractors. I mean now is the time to upgrade them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is with the style of tractors people are looking for. But you know it's funny, on every sale that we've done, the tractors everybody are looking for is at 30, 40, and 50 series John Deere tractors or the Case IH equivalent because everybody can work on them. And guys like you and me we love running tractors like that because we can still work on them. But everything else newer you've got to have electronics, you've got to have a technician come out and hook the computer up, and so we've got a couple that we just sold here this last week. And then I want to talk about the big one. We sold that big Fent tractor up at Harmon's. That was a great sale up there but it brought $395,000. I mean, that was a huge value tractor and it went down to Anderlin, north Dakota I believe. But the gentleman was very happy to get it. But it was one of those. You struggle when you think about that. That's a lot of money for anybody oh, absolutely it is, but they.
Speaker 3:They ended up a really nice tractor too. No, really nice, but that is I. Even I sat in it and I I never thought I'd sit in something like that well, the one thing kind of funny about that I don't think I could drive it.
Speaker 2:I'm probably one of those with all electronics in there. It would take a full week of learning what button to push and how to use it. But they are great tractors and I know people love them and they got great warranty on them. And the other thing is the dealer comes out and does all the maintenance work and does all the oil changes and everything right on the place for everybody.
Speaker 3:You notice that I said I sat in it. Yeah, I didn't drive it because I don't know how, but I sat in it and it was really cool.
Speaker 2:You know we've got a couple minutes left here, but you know let's talk about your. You've got about one minute I'll give you to talk about your place up north of Minot and where you grew up and where you went to school, and, and now that you're married and you just had a daughter get married here this last year, and and so, and you become a grandpa.
Speaker 3:So now you're now you're getting aged yeah, I'm almost as old as you, jim, yeah, which just a few years behind you. But yeah, I, like Jim said, I grew up, you know, north of Minot. You know we ranched, we farmed and in between we worked at the sale barn. I was side by side with Dad my whole life and unfortunately we lost him. But we're keeping the ranch going. My brothers are working hard at it and registered Longhorn cattle probably the only place in the state of North Dakota you're going to find them.
Speaker 2:You know, and it's a great place to grow up. But you know what. We're going to end this segment here and I want to say I'm Jim Savvy, the American Land Auctioneer. This radio program is sponsored by the great people at Pfeiffer's the land managers, the real estate agents, the auctioneers and all the staff. We're the ones that put things together and come out and meet you and visit with you. But I tell you what folks? Nobody does it better than pifers and we'd like to thank everybody for doing business with us. It's been 25 years and you know what we're going to be, right back into our next segment and cliff, and I'll talk about upcoming auctions and what we've got going on. Again, this is jim savvy with american land auctioneer and we'll be right back.
Speaker 2:Hi, I'm Jim, Savvy with American Land Auctioneer, I'm your host for this beautiful Saturday morning and hey, you know what? We've got Easter up tomorrow and I'd like to wish everybody a happy Easter throughout the Upper Midwest. And you know, pipers, everybody took off for Easter or, excuse me, good Friday, and I'm home now and going to be making some prime rib for the family, but you know. So, again, happy Easter to everybody, but we want to talk about some upcoming auctions that we have. Happy Easter to everybody, but we want to talk about some upcoming auctions that we have. And you know we've got some really good ones coming up. That you know kind of. I mean when we get some big auctions but there's not a lot of items. You know, like that Harmon auction, we started at 10 and we were done by, I think, 12 o'clock, 12.15, something like that, but it was a huge dollar amount sale and it was just a lot of big items. Now we get a couple of these sales that we're going to be doing.
Speaker 2:The 24th of April is the Sheely auction at Drake, north Dakota. Folks, get on to Piferscom. Take a look at that equipment. David Sheely and his wife did an excellent job, but they also kept their machinery inside. David Sheely and his wife did an excellent job, but they also kept their machinery inside. The big thing they did was they also took it to John Deere every year after the season was over with to get everything worked on you know, updated anything, oil changed in case there was some sensor that went out. They get things put in, but this stuff sat inside. When you take a look at Piper's calm, go to the Sheely auction at Drake North Dakota you will see it's probably one of the nicest set of equipment.
Speaker 2:2017, 2018, 2019 John Deere equipment got a beautiful Pete semi there with three hundred and some thousand on it, a freight liner semi. I think that's a 2006 model. That's got like six hundred thousand. On great Wilson trailer. We got a land roller. That's unbelievable. Everything 600,000 on great Wilson trailer. We've got a land roller. That's unbelievable. Everything there is immaculate. But the biggest thing is we're going to be selling a lot of things out of the shop and folks. We've got two trailer loads of stuff out of the shop with tools and other stuff but then when we get done with the big equipment, we're going to go back in and show the sell the scaffolding and everything on the walls and kind of walk around and get everything taken care of. But even the stuff in the shop is just like new.
Speaker 2:And I know there's two things on there I know, cliff, that you need, and one is one of those electric bikes so you can ride a bike around. He's got two of them, one for his wife and one for him, and they use that to ride around check fields and are in excellent condition. And then I believe there's a Dodge pickup there, a little white one that is. I can't remember how many miles on it, but it's a half ton with a six-speed transmission in it. And you know that's kind of unusual for that era to have a six-speed just in a two-wheel drive with a V8 engine in there. But everything is really nice. So go to Piferscom, check that out. The Sheely Auction, drake, north Dakota and I know you haven't been up there, but I know you've looked at the website Tell me what you think of some of those, like the tractors and the combines, the sprayer we had a guy from Ohio fly in here to look at that sprayer. It is that nice. But what do you think of them, cliff?
Speaker 3:100% quality through and through. I mean everything there is top of the notch. I mean it's ready to work. They do a really good job with it. They've kept everything up.
Speaker 2:Everything does. I mean, everything is ready, field ready. And then the big thing we want to top things off with I believe we have 11 Meridian hopper bins and then we've got a Meridian fuel tank there also. But the hopper bins now he did not use dry fertilizer in anything. This air seeder that he's got has got a belt conveyor on it but he's never used it. He's liquid. He does liquid fertilizer. So he's never had any fertilizer in this air seeder or in the hopper bins. And he does have one hopper bin that's lined epoxy lined but the rest of them aren't. But they all have fans on them so you can blow air into them and keep things, you know, dry or kind of cool them down a little bit, get the moisture out of them.
Speaker 2:But it is one of those sales that I think everybody should want to take a look at and come up there. And again, what do we like to do? We like to do live auctions with online presence, and we've got two. We've got Equipment Facts and NextLot and you're the auctioneer. I mean you get to watch those up and on your screens there. But it's kind of interesting when you get to this with the equipment we have. There's people from all over the country Mexico to Canada bidding on these things.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you ain't going to go anywhere else. I mean, there are so many different people and with the live and online, it is the absolute best way to go.
Speaker 2:You know and we try to prove that to everybody that the live with the online simulcast bidding, that is the best way to go, and we're proving it this spring with the dollars we're getting for a lot of this equipment, that we're actually going better than the guys who are just doing online only. That we're actually going better than the guys who are just doing online only. So remember that, folks, if you're looking to do a sale, get a hold of any Pifers representative and we'd like to come visit with you. But we'll prove to you that we can do it better and nobody does it better than Pifers by doing the live and online sale. Now, every once in a while, we will throw in an online only, just a timed online only. We'll do probably two or three of them a year and then our four times a year of simulcast with the auctioneers online, and then the rest are all farm sales and we like the live on the farm sale. So again, take your pick of what you want to do, but we would prefer you do a live auction.
Speaker 2:We love coming out there and setting up the equipment and and getting to know the family that we're working for and you know the history behind things and then you get all the buyers coming in and and then it kind of just explodes. So it's kind of nice. But you know, just like you've been helping us with some setups, you kind of see how that works. But day of the sale, I mean, it's kind of we're pipers, we like to visit with people. We always get accused of you, we talk a lot, but we like to visit and you're kind of the same way and I know you met some great people up there, uh, in carrington this last week oh, absolutely.
Speaker 3:And you know, going back, like you said, setting up and that to me that's part of the fun. I mean getting things lined up and and seeing how in your mind of how this, you know, this is how the sales should go. That's part of it and just being part of Piper's is. It's a dream come true to me.
Speaker 2:I mean I you know we're glad you're here and you're going to be a great asset for our team. And you know, we've got some very good auctioneers in this company and, and you know, and Christian Miller is one of our young auctioneers, he's getting better every day but I would say, and Kevin Piper, he's probably one of the best land auctioneers you'll ever find in the country. You know machinery. He's kind of doesn't get in touch with as much because he knows land so much better, but he likes to come and do a little auctioneering at the machinery sales. But Andy Marnock and you are probably our two prime auctioneers we're going to be going to because we feel that we've got two of the best in the upper Midwest that can auction anything off. And you know we prove it when we go to the fundraisers, we prove it at our sales every week in and week out that we have some of the best auctioneers and some of the best ringmen in the country. Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 3:I always figure it's kind of the Corvette and the Chevette, you know, but I'm a classic Chevette, you know, andy, to me is the Corvette. I mean he's just smooth and slick and you know, you get me. I'm kind of the good old 79 Chevette, but I'm still here.
Speaker 2:You're the typical cattle auctioneer. You just keep things moving along and that's what we like. And you'll find folks that things are very good, easy to listen to and we want to invite everybody to come to our auctions. Come and socialize Out West. Everybody loves to socialize. In Bowman we'll get 350, 400 people at our sales. In Montana it will be the same. South Dakota is the same.
Speaker 2:When you think about it, these people, they don't get to see their neighbors. Now when we get to the eastern side of North Dakota it's a little faster paced and people say, well, we just don't have time to do this. Well, a lot of them don't have time to meet their neighbors either, and either and you know we like to have it when people are coming and you can visit with them. You know we can take their bids face to face. That's what's really nice. You know you can see what they, how they want it, what they're looking at and you can tell when they're done. I mean, as a ring man and you as an auctioneer, you can tell when guys are done, but you know also know that maybe they might go one more time.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, yeah, socializing, just that. That's the main thing I mean of a good live auction is that you get to socialize, like you said, with your neighbors or guys that are 200 miles away, that you've never met, but everybody's willing to shake hands and visit for a while yeah, coffee.
Speaker 2:No, well, cliff, let's. We're gonna get moving into the next section. Um, you know the third section. We'll talk about more of our upcoming sales. We only covered one or two there. But I'd like to say this Jim Sabby, you're here, you're MC for the day. I'm going to just MC it here, but we'd like to thank Piper's Auction and the real estate company and the land management and the auctioneers, and right now we'll be right back with our next segment. Welcome to America's Land Auctioneer.
Speaker 2:I'm Jim Savvy, your host for this afternoon or this morning program. Sorry, it is a Saturday morning. Tomorrow's Easter Again, we want to wish everybody a happy Easter. And I got Cliff Sanders from Clifford, north Dakota and you know it was kind of funny at auctioneer school. You know they always call auctioneers colonels, you know, and all of a sudden it fit this guy right. We thought he was a uh from Kentucky Fried Chicken Colonel Sanders. Well, you know, we don't call him Colonel very much anymore, but uh, he is a Colonel Sanders. He is an auctioneer, probably one of the best, uh, I would say, in the upper Midwest. But Cliff, um, you're living in Clifford, north Dakota. How'd you pick that spot is? Was it the name or what?
Speaker 3:no, I kind of got lucky that it all kind of fell into place. When we we bought our farmstead I actually thought the address was mayville until I was signing the paperwork and looked down and said, oh, cliff from clifford boy, that being an auctioneer, that that couldn't have fallen in better hands there no, pretty easy for you.
Speaker 2:But let's talk about some upcoming auctions. You're going to be with us in the next couple of weeks going all around the country doing this, but you know we've got the one in Mandan, north Dakota, and it's an excellent little auction with some real estate Plus. You know we found a Bobcat in there. I think it was a S660 or 670, whatever it is, um, but it only had 35 hours on. It's a 2012 model. That's how everything is. You got a beautiful little 2510 all restored. It's got some nice pickups with low miles on. You run a little business right there and the gentleman passed away. But to talk about shop tools, talk about the beautiful real estate along i-94 and and that area, but the the vehicles it's kind of like a barn find when we went into that and, uh, you know john soraiti has been there from our office out of bowman working that a lot. But that is unbelievable when you find stuff, the condition that is in right there.
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely Top quality equipment too, like that. I mean, where would you find a skid steer like that in this day and age? I mean you just don't find them like that because they're used and used and used.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're usually abused by now. And this one here, like I said, it's got the 12 or 35 hours on it. But John I know has been there. There's been a lot of interest in the real estate, a lot of interest in the machinery and whatever else is there. But I haven't been on site yet. But go to Piferscom and check that out.
Speaker 2:And then the following week, you know, we moved to Voltaire, north Dakota. I tell you what another place where the gentleman that's retiring there has done an excellent job of keeping things clean. He's got a very unique John Deere combine that it's a 770, I believe, but it's got some add-on features there that I've never seen on other combines. All his equipment is nice and clean. He's actually setting his own sail up.
Speaker 2:He said you know, this is what I wanted to do all winter. He said we didn't have any snow there for a couple of weeks, but he said I wanted to do this. He said I wanted to actually see what I got. And he said would you believe I got more parts? He said I think I could rebuild anything I got here and so the parts are actually going to go with everything there, you know the brand new parts for the air seeder and anything else is. And he said you know I've been to other auctions where they don't bring much. He said I'd rather have the new owner get these and take them home. And he said that. And that's really the kind of people we deal with are very, very nice people, but they want to make sure the buyer gets everything to them that they need to make that thing work.
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely, that's a nice you know for people to be that way, I mean that's a really good thing.
Speaker 2:You know. So when you get into, you know sales like that. I mean it's one of those that I remember when he talked to us up in Minot at the Ag Show you know Christian Miller is actually handling that but he said, christian, you're a young man. He said very nice. But he said I want you out of my place tomorrow morning by 10 o'clock and don't be late. And so Christian was out there and he was there that day and looked at the equipment. He come back and he said boy, jim, we've got to do this sale. He said it's not a lot there, but it's nice, clean equipment. When I say not a lot, it's going to be about a two-hour sale, and then he's probably got about an hour worth of small stuff. But he's got things ready to go. But Christian said we've got to do it. And he said he's going to call me today whether or not he's going to let us know if we're going to do the sale. Christian got that phone call and he said I'll do the sale with you. And Christian said well, I'll be down there within an hour to get the contract signed. He said no, I'm coming to Minot, we can get her done there. So I mean he was just as anxious as we were. But when you look at what he has to sell and the respect he has in the community like we see from a lot of other people we do sales for they're very respected in their community. Now, this gentleman here, everybody likes this guy. I mean they call him the colonel up there which I kind of leaned in from what we talked about you. But he's one of those guys that were just nice to sit down and visit with.
Speaker 2:And again, that's in Voltaire, north Dakota, coming up. Just go to Piferscom, follow where we're at with all these sales, and then don't forget, I got another one down in Regent, north Dakota. A young man has decided to go to trucking instead of farming on his grandpa's place and so we're going to sell all that stuff down in Regent. So look at that again, piperscom. We've got some very nice older John Deere equipment 87 and 89, 60s and 70s, but really nice. A lot of it's field ready, and so he's getting ready for that sale. I think John Cerati is down there today trying to get that lined up.
Speaker 2:But you know, again we got more sales. I got some more south of Flasher coming up, the Zins real estate sale and we have the machinery sale down there and that'll be an online only machinery sale and so will the land sale. So that's coming up the end of May and again we got a lot of auctions there. I know there's some in Sioux Falls coming up Again pyferscom, check it out, everybody can do that. But you know, cliff, when you see our lineup, you know from an outsider looking in. I know you followed us a lot because we'd always call you we need an auctioneer here, we need one there, um, but when you look at that, what? What comes to mind when you're seeing about all the auctions? We have the real estate and the machinery, because you did get to help out with the real estate one here last week.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, it's a bit going to be a busy year and a fun year, you know, that's what I see. There's a a lot of call for. The like we said talked about earlier is the live auction, and that's the one thing that our company does push and strive on is live auctions.
Speaker 2:You know, the way to go it is and and you know, but we're, we're kind of dragging you around and you're, you know you're getting the eye for, well, you know probably every road around that devil's lake and and, uh, basically i-94 north, all the way to northern tier, but uh, you're seeing a little different country. You've been out in our our place, you've been there before. But, um, I know you like being out in bowman because you're back in cowboy country and you know I wouldn't let him wear his cowboy hat today, but no, it was too windy to go outside and get it. But you think about it and you go to different areas and people there are a lot of people are the same. You know very good people that we deal with. You know our auction company. You know we like this when people come down and you fit right in with us and our clients, they don't even know. They think well, he's just one of those guys from the Bowman-Scranton area and don't even realize you're from eastern North Dakota. So it's kind of fun to see that.
Speaker 3:Oh, and I really do enjoy going to Bowman, the pretty country and the people, but I like being everywhere. I'm a people person, I always have been and I like to visit, I like to talk. If you haven't noticed, I've known each other a long time, a lot of phone calls and chased a lot of dotted lines this summer, but it's all worth it, it's fun.
Speaker 2:You know, and I remember you used to come down for a big horse sale in Bowman. For a big horse sale in Bowman, oh yes, and you know we won't have to say any more about that, but it was a good horse sale down there in Bowman every year and you were down for that. But you know, when you go around the country and get to see different parts, you know, like this last week we had snow actually out by Medora we had some snow and head in there, um, the moisture I mean, it was really dry in our area compared to where you're at um, but we need this moisture is as bad as anything and and we're just lucky we got this uh, the good lord was looking out for us and one thing I'd like him to stop is the wind. Um, he's drying us out in a hurry on this wind. But you know it's been, uh, it's been a tough year for everybody out west, you know, with lack of hay and you know they bought up a lot of hay this winter. But, uh, we're going into another dry season and every little bit helps with, uh, moisture.
Speaker 2:And you know, farmers, they can get a shot of rain here and there and they're going to be all right, but it's a cows, um, the livestock, the sheep. In my area we got a lot of bit, some big sheep ranchers and you know probably between six and eight hundred head of sheep on their place and you know they got to find grass for them. They got cows also. I mean it. It makes it tough for everybody out in our country and I will say the water situation has helped with everybody doing pipelines and, uh, getting that kind of done. So we have rural water or pipeline water out there, but there's still some areas where we don't have the water and we need the grass oh yeah, you always need rain, no matter what there's, the main thing water is.
Speaker 3:That's the life source of everything in this world.
Speaker 2:It is it. It's been a hard couple of years but the cattlemen are finally getting some payback. As you know as being a cattle auctioneer when you're up there, the market was very good and it's been fun. But the cattlemen are still very conservative. Now they're going out and probably buying some more cattle. They're going out, they're purchasing some equipment and are also trying to get some more pasture. I mean, everybody needs more pasture. It seems like everybody asks me well, do you guys got any pasture up for lease? And you know so pasture price has kind of gone up whether you're buying or leasing. But the cattlemen have done very well and we're really, really happy that we got this moisture last week Again, like I said, a half inch to three-quarters of an inch, and it's been working out very well.
Speaker 2:This spring Been a great calving season, except for those probably week that we were 20 below, it seemed like, and didn't get a lot of snow. But I know we're calving on the ranch there and I know they're down to about the last four or five head to calve and been a good one for us. But again, I'm Jim Sabby, your host for today's America's Land Auctioneer. We appreciate everybody listening today and this is sponsored by everybody at Piper's our real estate agents, land guys and also the auctioneers. You got to remember us, we got to remember us. You've got to remember Cliff. We're all paying for this and I'd like to thank Kevin Piper for putting this on Again. I'm Jim Sabby with America's Land Auctioneers and we'll be back for our last segment. I'm going to get 35.
Speaker 1:I'm going to get 35. And I have salt in here right there. Get the bird just straight by. It's a great time, Hi.
Speaker 2:I'm Jim Savvy, your host today for America's Land Auctioneer and for the final segment here today we're going to switch microphones to our guy here in Steele North Dakota, albert Rorick and Albert, good morning to you and how's things going today?
Speaker 4:Hey, good morning Jim. Things are going pretty good today. We're pretty wet out here in Steele.
Speaker 2:We got a good shot of moisture. You guys always seem to live well out here with moisture.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we seem to get lucky there and get what we need anyways.
Speaker 2:Yeah, now, if anybody doesn't know and I'll have Albert say this a little bit but Albert grew up here but he is kind of the ramrod of our steel office. Him and Darren Peterson do the lining up Darren's been. I see he was out dragging the yard here three, four days ago and trying to get it to dry up. But you know, you guys kind of run this facility and you've got a lot of nice equipment. So kind of let us know. I know you grew up here in Steele, but kind of let everybody else know what else is happening in your life besides being a rancher.
Speaker 4:Oh, it's busy. I grew up in steel here, born and raised, got hired on a piper a few years back here. Other than that, I got a wild little three-year-old boy and he loves everything to do with the farm and equipment-wise. I run a few side businesses on the side too, other than working for Pifers and having the cattle around. So it's it's a busy lifestyle, but it's kind of like where I like to be, you know, always going after it.
Speaker 2:Well, we appreciate you taking the time to work around here at this steel office. Um, you know Darren Peterson is kind of the center post of this place and well known throughout the upper Midwest and you know grew up here also Robinson, north Dakota. But you guys work very well organizing, lining up the equipment, keeping the lot clean. You know the last couple of years it's been tough with all the smaller stuff come in but and now we have we had one of the biggest sales that I think steel's ever had, with really good equipment and things sold very well. And I want to thank you for you and Darren for for doing what you do. And I know you go out and get a lot of contracts from guys and Darren kind of points you in the right direction so he can stay here and work and hold some land contracts. But you know, with things going on, let's talk about the future of the steel area with this facility.
Speaker 2:I think it's a great location. The only downfall to this location is there's not a runway here in town. You know, for some of us to be able to fly in if we could and other people fly in. But you know it's a great location. Right along I-94. Community has been great for us and I think we've been great for the community. But let's talk about our big sales that we got coming up. That June one that you'll be working on will be online only, but will be a virtual sale with the auctioneers, and I know you're already looking at a lot of equipment for that sale, yeah, so I've been taking quite a few phone calls.
Speaker 4:You know, guys that missed the deadline for our spring consignment sale and steel, but there's a lot of guys that like to leave it right on the farm said Jim, you know, and I know here within the next few weeks we'll be busy on the road, you know, booking equipment and we'll have a good assortment of equipment on that sale. You know, anywhere from construction equipment, you know, to the farm equipment, cattle equipment, you know. Just with that, you know it's going to be a good sale. I think that virtual auctioneering on our live or on our online only sales will help out quite a bit, you know. I think it's going to be something for guys to get used to, but also going to be a great, great tool for us.
Speaker 2:You know our auctioneers like it because they get to do some more chanting. You know for another day and I believe that's going to be a great sale for us at June Online. So anybody get a hold of Albert right here at Steele, or Darren Peterson or any other guys. The guys in Bowman, Andy Murnau, Jim Sabby, John Cerati. Then we move. You know Christian Miller. And don't forget Crispy. We just call him Crispy. So just look him Crispy, Just look at our site, Go to meet our team and you'll see everybody there.
Speaker 2:We've got a guy up in New Rockford. That's one of the funniest guys you'll ever meet, Corey Longhacker. He'll keep you laughing the whole time. We've got enough guys spread around. Don't forget our Sioux Falls crew. They've got a great crew down. And don't forget our Sioux Falls crew. You know they've got a great crew down there and have a lot of nice sales. So keep them in mind.
Speaker 2:And then we've got to remember Troy, down there at Fergus Falls. Troy is a guy that's sold equipment his whole life and now went to work for us. So anybody out in that eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota get a hold of Troy Johnsrud. He's on our website also with his picture, Get a hold of him and you know then Cliff, you know, just starting out with us kind of working that eastern side right now, we're kind of getting him adjusted and you know he kind of fits right in.
Speaker 2:He's just kind of an old cowboy rancher type guy and that's kind of how I figure you and me and Andy Murnaug, John Cerati, I mean most of us have run cattle and farmed and so we kind of know, when we're bringing sales together, how to do things and how to work with a lot of this equipment and I'd say our experience as a group, you know, you know a heck of a lot about equipment. So when you go out, at least you can talk, you can talk to talk when you go out and and I've listened to you here in the office and you do a great job, so tell us a little bit more about what you look for and, uh, the clients that you've run into here over the last, oh, couple years oh, nothing beats meeting new people.
Speaker 4:You and a lot of guys we come to know through Pifers are guys that you know you stick with. They call you, whether it's buying more pieces or selling with us. You know building relationships is the main thing you know with all the sellers, buyers.
Speaker 2:It is a relationship that we build with people, and you just said it right there. That's what pifers love to do is build relationships, uh. So we've got friends uh many years down the road, and that's what's kind of fun about the whole business oh yeah, and then you see them.
Speaker 4:You know you might not see them for a year, year and a half, and then, poof, you see them. You see them five times in that one week. You know, um, and then just like with the whole auction world, once you get to know these guys, that relationship you build with them, then, hey, they start calling. You know once a week or once a month. You know, you see how it is in their neck of the country and then you tell them about what it's like in yours and it's just that nothing beats that. You know it is.
Speaker 2:It's been fun that way and when you see and get to meet these people, um, and I like doing loadout and you talked about this this morning when we were visiting but doing loadout you get to visit with everybody that bought something, um, what they need and what, uh, what needs to be done, and uh, they are great people and a lot of times go ask hey, what are you looking for? Or do you need to sell anything? Or you know, if I see something out on the road and I give you a call because you're looking for this, you know, and they just love that, I said, really you guys would do that. Yeah, we do, and that's what's kind of nice.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you know, and then they kind of help us with you know things that we might have to work on, you know, or things we could change you might know, you know, and it's uh, help out other customers. So we look into that too, you know, but a lot of guys overall have nothing but nice things to say. You know, and I I help out a lot with like weekends and stuff like that. I live five miles north of town, I'm 10 minutes. I can usually be in a town, make an appointment only and I'll be in here to load you out.
Speaker 2:You know, but a lot of guys appreciate that too, you know, they do, they do we hear that a lot from people and in Bowman we do the same thing and if it's a farm sale somewhere we'll try to accommodate you the best we can. But we sit out there and we will do the loadout, get to visit with people who bought the client that we're working for. They love it. They're really appreciative of us doing that. So again, it's just been a very good time and we do appreciate you getting back here and hanging out with the guys here in steel. I know it's a lot of fun and you know we do have fun as a group.
Speaker 2:The pressure's on, the pressure's on. So again I want to thank Albert Roerich for being on here on America's Land Auctioneer. We're gonna kind of end this segment for this week and look forward to the next one. But folks go to Piferscom. We've got a lot of things going on, a lot of land sales. I mean the land sales are unbelievable. We got a big one out west in North of Beach or North of Sentinel Butte. We'll be holding that sale at the Cowboy Hall of Fame. So again I'm Jim Sabby with America's Land Auctioneer. We'd like to thank all of our real estate agents, our land managers and our auctioneers and our staff at Piper's for putting this show on every week. And again, I'm Jim Sabby with America's Land Auctioneer, and we'll see you down the road.