Taylor won the Heartland Bank Young Auctioneer of the Year title at the Canterbury A&P Show in November.
Part of his prize was a trip to Sydney to get involved with the Australian Livestock and Property Agents Association’s equivalent competition at the Royal Show.
He’ll also take part in the 2017 Tru-Test Beef Expo in Feilding in mid-May where he’ll sell the Queen of Hearts.
Taylor’s Sydney trip began with the ALPA Young Auctioneer’s Competition dinner and sponsors night in Darling Harbour.
“There were 350 people at the dinner and at the end of the night the 2016 Australian Champion and myself had to do a charity auction. It was an absolute blast and we made about $20,000 off 12 items. I think the free beer and wine definitely made it easier to draw the bids out of the sponsors,” Taylor said.
The next day was spent at the show. Taylor had to navigate the “huge” show to research three steers that he would later sell.
“After finding and researching the stock we’d be selling, we had to sell in an indoor theatre that seats about 3000 people. We sold three steers each. One of my limousin steers made $3400 and only weighed 450 kilos. They had a lot of high-end butchers and steak houses there buying the steers.
“It was a great experience and I loved every minute of it. It was great to also represent New Zealand in rodeo while I was over there. I placed fourth on the first night in the bareback riding but didn’t have much luck after that.”
Along with the experience gained during his trip to Sydney, the young auctioneer from Peter Walsh and Associates said that winning the competition has already had a positive effect on his career.
“It’s really kicked open a few doors, allowing my boss and colleagues to have a bit more faith in my ability to sell confidently. I now sell at my own on-farm lamb sales, calf sales and ewe fairs and I hope my clients see this [the win] as another reason to trust me to get the best value for their stock.
The 2017 Heartland Bank Young Auctioneers Competition will take place during the Canterbury A&P Show — November 15-17 at Canterbury Agricultural Park. Entries for the competition will open in August.
