McCreary's Tyler Slawinski will not soon forget his 23rd birthday.
That's the day Tyler competed against 24 other auctioneers from across Canada at the Livestock Marketers of Canada's Annual convention and Auctioneer Championship in Stavley, Alb.
The competition is open to anyone who is currently selling at auctions, and has a special Buckle for the "Rookie of the Year" awarded to the top Auctioneer with less then five years of selling experience in the livestock field.
All participants took part in the opening round where each person auctioned off around 10 sets of cattle each. The top performers from the first round were then asked to take part in the second round of selling where the top quality cattle were sold.
As part of the competition, auctioneers were required to both call out and identify bids from the audience. On top of that, competing auctioneers also had to keep an eye a coworker who was monitoring and relaying any online bids made.
All of the competition featured live, and real, bids as part of an actual cattle sale.
When the smoke cleared, Slawinski was the only Rookie competitor to be called back to sell in the prestigious Top 10 final round.
Tyler had placed higher then the other seven rookies in the contest to claim his Rookie Champion Buckle.
"It takes a lot of professionalism, proper conduct, and part of it's your character and selling ability," Slawinski explained. "I think what helped me was that I've been selling a lot of cattle the last little while, so that helps.
Slawinski - who sales out of the Gladstone Auction Mart and Ashern Auction Mart - also credits Scott Campbell of Killarney who gave him his start in the business, and 2011 Canadian Champion Auctioneer Brennin Jack of Weyburn, Sask. who worked with Tyler before the competition.
"Without Brennin I would not have had all my ducks in a row to compete at this level," Slawinski said. "I'm lucky to get a chance to train with a true Champion such as Brennin."
After winning this title, Slawinski moves onto the global stage, competing in July for the International Livestock Auctioneer Rookie of the Year Buckle held in conjunction with the Calgary Stampede.
