ST. ONGE—The eyes of the livestock marketing industry were on western South Dakota June 17-20 as St. Onge and Deadwood hosted the 62nd World Livestock Auctioneer Championship and Livestock Marketing Association Annual Convention. Hundreds of visitors from across the United States traveled to the area for the events, which brought together some of the industry’s top auctioneers, livestock market owners, cattle producers and other industry professionals.
Thirty-one of the country’s fastest-talking auctioneers came to the Black Hills of South Dakota to compete for a chance to take home not only the title of World Livestock Auctioneer Champion but also an impressive prize package that included $10,000 cash, one-year use of the World Champion truck, a custom Gist belt buckle, hand-tooled leather briefcase, bronze WLAC sculpture, World Champion ring and much more.
The driving force behind bringing the National Convention and World Championship to the area was Justin Tupper, owner of St. Onge Livestock, Newell Sheep Yards and President of the United States Cattlemen’s Association. “For several years we worked to try to get it, and we just kept putting our names out there, and finally they decided we could have it in Deadwood and St. Onge,” he shared.
On Thursday, June 18, the group loaded up on buses and descended upon the small town of Newell for the Host Market BBQ at the Spur Creek Saloon & Ranch. Of course those that had vehicles were welcome to navigate to the scenic area. Live music, good food and drink kept the anticipation for the contestant introduction and draw manageable. Tupper took to the microphone to welcome everyone to the event. “I just want to say a big welcome to everybody here… We can’t thank you all enough for coming out. A great big welcome from St. Onge Livestock, all our crew—we’re glad you’re here,” he said.
Past World Livestock Auctioneer Champions were on hand to support the current qualifiers. They formed two lines and high-fived and celebrated each contestant as they were introduced. One by one each competitor drew for position for the interview and another time for their order to take the microphone and showcase their skills. “We’re gonna find out a new World Champion on Saturday, so it’ll be exciting to have them all here. And we got a big run of cattle,” said Tupper.
Putting together all of the different parts of the competition was a lot of work. “A lot of coordination—the LMA does a lot of coordinating, and we coordinated the event for the (Newell) barbecue and then all the things that go on at the sale barn are on us,” shared Tupper.
Beginning bright and early on Saturday, June 20, the auctioneering portion of the World Championship contest took place. The contest was two-part; the first, held the day before, consisted of an interview in front of an audience about industry issues before a panel of Livestock Marketing Association members.
The second consisted of each competitor taking control of the sale ring and auctioning off cattle in a real sale. According to Tupper, the cattle featured in the live auction were some of the finest cattle around and came from Western South Dakota, Eastern Montana, Eastern Wyoming and Southern North Dakota.
The auctioneer plays one of the most important roles in bringing in high dollars while moving cattle through the ring quickly. They were judged on their presentation, chant and execution of the sale.
The top ten auctioneers who received the highest scores in the semi-finals came back to perform the auctioneering duties Saturday afternoon.
Seating inside the St. Onge Livestock Barn was limited, but there was a large tent set up beside the Sale Barn with tables, chairs and big-screen TVs so everyone in attendance could watch both the auctioneers and the cattle perform. The sale saw record-breaking cattle prices.
After all was said and done, Jace Thompson of Billings, MT was crowned the 2026 World Livestock Auctioneer Champion. Troy Robinett of Decatur, TX was named Reserve Champion. Barrett Simon of Rosalia, KS was Runner-Up and earned high-score interview honors, and Austin Schaben of Dunlap, IA was named Audrey K. Banks Rookie of the Year.
Next year the Livestock Marketing Association National Convention will be held in South Lake Tahoe, NV and the World Livestock Auctioneer Championship is set for the Cattlemen’s Livestock Market in Galt, CA.
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