Editorials | Be grateful for the bounty of Washington agriculture | Seattle Times Newspaper

Editorials | Be grateful for the bounty of Washington agriculture | Seattle Times Newspaper

Do I hear $3 million?

From the Casper Tribune-


The Big West Ranch, located near Arminto, was up for auction on Thursday.

Auctioneer Harold Musser didn't speculate about the apparent take of nearly $3 million, whether it would have been higher a few years ago. "If you want to sell today, you take today's money," he said.

That's just the way the free market works.

Well, sort of.

The yield got a boost from the auction process. It wasn't a simple matter of running through the bidding once and calling it good.

The ranch was divided into 14 large tracts, with varying degrees of deeded land and assorted state, federal and private leases. In the first cut, each tract was put up for bid. But "winners" in the round actually won nothing. They only established a set of baseline prices.

Once high bids for each tract were posted, a second round of bidding commenced. Now, ranchers had an opportunity to bid on combinations of tracts, or even the entire ranch, and to raise bids on individual tracts.

Accordingly, a high bid for a particular tract could be wiped out by a combination bid for several tracts. A combination of tracts, moreover, could be negated by someone else's combination of tracts. If someone offered -- and some people did at one stage or another -- a bid for the entire ranch that exceeded the total for the tracts, then that action wiped away all previous activity. However, if new recombinations exceeded the bid for the entire ranch, the bid for the whole was itself annulled.

In latter stages, as it became clear who was still in and who was out, and who had an eye on what, auction representatives stood at the elbows of some bidders, encouraging them to up the ante.

The Big West Ranch is a little over 92,000 acres in size; however, only about 11,200 acres is deeded land. Nearly 61,000 is leased from the BLM and about 18,000 acres from the state.

The number of ways in which 14 tracts can be combined is a mathematical calculation beyond the expertise of this column. The apparent result on Thursday was bids from four buyers totaling $2,990,000.

But even that was not the end. It was a reserve auction. So an invisible thumb had been applied to the scale of pure, free-market capitalism all along.

Finally, finally, finally, two bids were accepted, totaling $2.11 million for about 62,427 acres.

High, low or in between what the land may have been worth yesterday, or may be worth tomorrow, really didn't matter. On this day, the winners paid what the market, and the process, could extract.

Musser Bros. takes home awards

At the recent Washington State Auctioneers convention, Musser Bros. Inc. was recognized for their outstanding auction advertising and marketing efforts. Musser Bros. won the award for Best Web Site and Best Overall Auction Promotion piece.

The staff at Musser Bros. prides themselves on producing effective and award winning marketing pieces that capture the attention of potential auction goers. As buyers continue to gravitate to the internet, it is vitally important to have a fully web-compliant website that offers both buyer and sellers the information they are looking for.

The Productive American Farmer

We ran across this youtube video about the U.S. Farmer and thought we would share it here. Enjoy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joUggaD6Mr0

Crane sells for $445,000

Musser Bros. set a new company record for the highest price attained for one piece of equipment when selling a 2007 Link Belt crane today for $445,000. Auction Coordinator Merton Musser said, "We had bidders onsite and online from coast to coast bidding on the crane." "Our advertising and market programming obviously attracted the right people."

Technology meets tradition

For 53 years, every item Musser Bros. has sold at auction has been punctuated with a verbal "SOLD" at the end. That is changing. We have now conducted five online-only auctions, offering items up on the "virtual" auction block.

When Steve Bancroft needed to close his company down, he turned to Musser Bros to market his equipment in the shortest time possible. Steve contacted our office less than four weeks ago with a need to liquidate his entire package of masonry equipment. Steve's equipment package consisted of some very specialized masonry scaffolding equipment that needed to be marketed to a very wide audience.

After consulting with Scott Musser, Steve and Scott felt that the best method with which to market the equipment was to utilize Musser Bros. proprietary online auction solution. Musser Bros. inventoried the equipment, created specialized market programming and had the auction online and available for bidding less than 72 hours after signing the auction agreement.

Bidders from eight states and two countries began competing online for each item. On October 22, the auction closed down, with items being sold as far away as North Carolina and Alberta. For a look at the results, visit the auction page at "I could have never gotten interest in my equipment from that broad of audience", said Steve Bancroft. "Musser's reputation and experience paid off huge for me."

While not every auction is suited for our online offering, it's exciting to be able to offer our clients the best in auction market programming. Contact a Musser Bros. representative today to see how we can maximize the value out of your equipment package.

Mussers elected to NAA Board of Directors

Overland Park, Kan.July 16, 2009 - The National Auctioneers Association (NAA), the largest professional organization for auctioneers and auction professionals, has elected a new slate of officers and board of directors to lead the organization for the coming year. The election occurred earlier today during the 60th International Auctioneers Conference and Show at the Overland ParkConvention Center.

2009-2010 election results:
President: Scott Musser, CAI, BAS - Pasco, WA
President-elect: Mark Rogers, CAI, AARE - Mt. Airy, NC
Vice president: Christie King, CAI, AARE, BAS - Glencoe, AL
Director: Robert Mayo, CAI, AARE, ATS - Kansas City, MO
Director: Harold Musser, CAI - Cody, WY
Director: Merle Booker, CAI, GPPA - Eltopia, WA
Appointed Director: Joe Calhoun - Kansas City, MO

With this passing of the gavel, past NAA President Randy Wells, will assume the position of Chairman of the Board, which was held by former President Tommy Williams, CAI. The newly-appointed Directors will join nine existing Directors on the Board. Joe Calhoun, business consultant, was appointed by President Musser to sit on the Board; his term will last for one year. Kurt Aumann, Nokomis, Ill., will take over as Chairman of the Education Institute Board of Trustees. Scott Schumann, Eaton, Colo., will fill the Vice Chairman of the Education Institute position.

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About the NAA
Headquartered in Overland Park, Kan., the National Auctioneers Association (NAA) represents the interests of approximately 4,400 auctioneers in the United States, Canada, and across the world. Founded in 1949, the mission of the NAA is to promote the auction method of marketing and enhancing the professionalism of its members through education and technology. To learn more about Auctioneers or to find an auctioneer, visit: www.auctioneers.org.