It is nearing the end of the year and cattle ranchers are
selling their calves to feedlots and packing plants. This makes fall the
busiest time of year for the Parker family, who own and operate the Smithfield
Livestock Auction in Smithfield, Utah.
Lane Parker and his son Jared Parker are the auctioneers, while
Susan Parker, Lane’s wife, works in the office. The family has been in the
auction business for 16 years.
The livestock auction is every Thursday at 10 a.m. and the
father-son auctioneer duo spend the day auctioning off mostly cattle, but occasionally
sheep and horses. Four-hundred beef and dairy cattle were sold on Thursday.
Lane Parker has been in the auction business all of his
life.
“My dad, Dean, started in the auction yard at 16 years-old,”
Lane Parker said. “I started auctioneering at 25 years old.”
Dean Parker was an auctioneer and managed the horse sale
production, Dean H. Parker and Associates. Then in 1996, Dean and his son bought
the auction barn in Smithfield.
Lane and his son, Jared, currently operate the business.
“We had lived here in the valley for over 20 years and just decided
to buy the local auction,” Lane Parker said.
Jared Parker graduated from auctioneer school two days
before he graduated from high school. He stayed in Cache Valley and now shares
the auctioneer job with his father each week.
“I was just raised in it,” Jared Parker said.“Whether it’s
out fixing fence or going around talking to people, there is always something
different to do.”
According to Lane Parker, in the auction business there are “so
many different ways” to sell an animal.
“There are different needs in the market, and the auction
facilitates that,” Lane Parker said.
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