BILLINGS — Every summer, thousands of cattle from this region are marketed through video sales. And with another busy summer video sales season already upon us, Superior Livestock Auction (SLA), like others, continues to persevere through these very unprecedented times.
SLA’s president Danny Jones says they're continuing to monitor and adapt to local, state and national restrictions, but they've decided to go ahead and move forward with their complete summer auction schedule.
“We've been scrambling hard and working hard to continue doing everything that we do, and we've been successful in that” said Jones. “We've had to make some changes in how we do business, but fortunately, we've been able to continue it thanks to the technology. We’ve complied with the distancing requirements and been able to keep price discovery alive on Superior. We're really proud and really proud of the of our people for making it work. And we've been able to continue to serve our customers and keep that price discovery going.”
He says at this time, Superior feels that it's in the best interest of all parties to move their June sales to their studio in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards.
“We're live and moving forward with everything pretty much as planned, with the exception of as we come to each location, depending on what the rules are and so far they haven't been relaxed enough to allow large meetings” said Jones. “But we are absolutely moving forward and we're getting good consignment buyer interest hasn't changed at all. We are able to pull that off and broadcast from Fort Worth. We may not be on location for some of those sales, but the press every continues and the auctions going just great. Even though we're not able to be on site every time, we regret that because we enjoy coming out. But as far as the auction is concerned, it moves on and that's just fine.”
Jones says they're very thankful for today's technology, which allows them to continue to operate and offer true price discovery. All while abiding by current CDC guidelines.
“We're thankful for that technology and use it to the fullest advantage for our customers” said Jones. “With these type situations, 30 years ago, it would've been much more devastating without the technology that we have. So, we have been able to continue and with the Internet, with television, and with click to bid, not only on Superior Livestock side but on the production side where our bull customers are able to continue to have large bidding crowds even though they can't have a large crowd in person.“
