Moving Iron: How In-Person Auctions Drive Community and Value

Welcome to Moving Iron with Casey Seymour and Greg Peterson. The podcast for anyone and everyone involved and interested in the business of equipment. If you want to understand what trends and market forces are impacting the price of your iron, you've come to the right place. Buckle up. It's time to move some iron.

I'm doing well. Casey, how are you?

Yeah, we've been melting. We filmed an auction in Illinois, actually last Thursday. That was up in Penfield and uh kind of a vintage tractor auction by Kerr Auction. Fantastic time there. And then uh yesterday, so July 14th is on the calendar, we filmed a sale in Mount Palaski for the TV show. So yeah, it was about 91, 92, and that's hot, hot, hot.

Yeah, that was last Thursday the 9th, Penfield, Illinois. It was very cool. Alex and Gina Kerr, I think this month I think actually is just two years for them in the auction business. So what they've built in two years is just crazy. Of course, Alex farms, Alex and Gina farm, they also have had a used equipment business for years. I think maybe sold seed, just kind of done it all. Alex is super connected. Great guy. But he approached the uh INI Antique Tractor and Gas Engine Club who of course puts on the historic farm to annual show there in Penfield, Illinois. They also do a half century half progress in Renoul. And he said, "Hey, just a thought. What about if we did a vintage tractor and equipment auction day one of your show in Penfield?" And so Russell Buer, uh one of the guys on the board, was telling me, "Yeah, Alex came up and made a presentation to the board." And the board was like, "That's a great idea. Let's do it." And Alex really promotes uh his auction events. I mean, so there were tons of people there and a great lineup. So people maybe saw the YouTube video I posted, but there was an International 1468 uh that brought well the highest I'd ever seen going into the sale, Casey. It was 63K and that was on a Mikum collector auction in Davenport, Iowa, 5 years, I think March of '21, so a little over 5 years ago. And this 1468 uh sold for 77 and a quarter. Now when they had beautiful stands set up there with kind of like a track then they would drive the tractors through. And Russell Buer from the INI Antique Tractor Club was driving the 1468. So Russell was smart. He looped it around and then he rolled some coal and as it was selling I was filming with my iPhone. I walked up and I was like, Russell. And of course he can't really hear when the tractor's running, but I was trying to tell him what it was going for. And I told him almost 80 and his eyes just went.

But uh then right behind it was the Massey 1155 from Danny Coon's collection in Arthur, Illinois. Of course, Coons Equipment. Danny has like the best vintage Massey tractor collection that I've ever seen. And Alex actually set three records on selling some of Danny's last summer on an 1100, 1130, and 1150. So this 1155, Alex had Sherry Schaefer and of course our great friend from Heritage Iron. Everyone knows Sherry, a legend in our vintage farm equipment space. She was driving the Massey 1155 and that brought 30K. So those were the two headliners. But they also had a John Deere G uh beautifully restored and that brought I think 14,000. It's getting a little more rare to see those 40s models kind of take off like that. But again, Alex is really smart. He had a video last week that we shared on our social media where he interviewed the guy who was, you know, the owner of that G. And when you see the owner, their passion talking about basically their baby, one of their kids. Oh, this is my G and here's how I used it. And I'm like scorekeeper on the sideline and I watch what happens when you do that and it almost always jumps the price. So again, that was a great day. And just a huge shout out to the people involved in that INI antique tractor and gas engine club. They are great people.

If you're looking for something to do, folks, circle Penfield, Illinois on the map and someday just take a drive up there. And they took the old elementary school in Penfield, Illinois. The club bought it 30 years ago, 1996, and they converted it into a museum. So part of the museum is an old IH dealership. So you go in there. I don't know if you've ever seen a Casey, but on the old back in the day, so the parts counter, there were no, of course, no computers, right? So they would have the parts books would flip up. They'd have like a row of eight slots and the guy come in, he go, "Well, I need a part for my Farmall 350." And then he go, "Okay." They flip out the fourth slot and it comes up. Here's the parts. So to put your hands on that counter and go, "Oh my god, decades of farmers did business right here in this dealership." It was really, really cool. Then they've got two or three International refrigerators and freezers on the sidewall. I asked if they had any Coors Light in there and they didn't at the time, but we were filming. So, but no, you're right. Those old fridges and freezers tell a story and it was fun to watch people just congregate. And they also in the museum, they have an area that kind of replicates farm homes with things that were around the farm. So, it's just fantastic.

But, shout out to Alicia Whitcomb. She's a secretary for the club and uh we were interviewing Alicia and that was interesting because you know women involved in collecting I'm always interested in their story and a lot of times their husband or whatever but in Alicia's case she said her brother passed away like 10 years ago or something and she wanted to get closer to her dad Denny who was part of the club for years. So Alicia joins the club and now you're kind of under the hood and like it's just guys, you know, you're talking tractors and stuff and now she's the treasurer of the club. And this is why when you go to events, farm shows or auctions, you know, the equipment is awesome. I mean, hey, watching a 1468 sell for 77 and a quarter. I mean, fantastic. I hope people enjoy the YouTube video. But as we were leaving, I wanted to thank Alicia. So, I went to find her in the office and there was another gal in the office, Tracy Bosch. And I had with me, I think you know Alan Hoskins, right? The national sales manager with American Farm Mortgage. Alan shows up at these auctions and Alan and I have been talking tractors forever. So, Alan and I are walking and talking and Alicia goes, "Oh, come into the office." Cuz it was air conditioned. It was so hot. And Tracy was there and we got visiting and Tracy just when you talk to people for five or 10 minutes stuff comes out. This is why I still love in person auctions. And Tracy said, "Well, my husband Dave was a member. He passed away 18 months ago from a sudden heart attack." And Alan and I of course were like, "Oh, Tracy, you know, we're so sorry." But she said what happened was he just had heartburn for three or four nights. And the fourth night woke up and it was really bad. And then boom, he was gone. And I asked Tracy as respectfully as I could. I was like, Tracy, for old stubborn guys like me who are 60 years old, 60 guys, you know, we don't want to be a bother. So healthwise, I said, I can relate to your husband Dave there. Would you share that story with our audience? So we did a little video and Tracy was great. So, a little Machinery Pete public service announcement for stubborn old dudes and gals like me. Listen to your body. And if something seems off, it's okay. It's okay. We don't want to be a bother. But, you know, like I have me and Mrs. Pete have three young grandkids and we want to invest in our future, be around for our grandkids. So, if something's a little off, go see your doctor and take it from Tracy. And uh Tracy did say Dave, her late husband Dave, loved watching Machinery Pete TV. So I think Dave, she was like Dave must be orchestrating this interview and I was like I'm sure Dave is smiling down at you Tracy. You're helping, you're saving lives right now is what you're doing. So it was a great day.

Yeah. If you're passionate about the space, you know, and you understand what's going on there, you know, most of my time are spent at consignment sales and those kind of things on the equipment side of it.

Didn't really go to many farm sales, but the farm sales I did go to, I mean, they were always it was always a gathering of people that especially if someone had passed or something like that. It was almost like what do you call that? A celebration of life almost a little bit in a lot of that.

Yeah, it's really interesting right now. We, you know, we work with 1500 auction companies across US and Canada. And what we're seeing now is just some folks like Mike Moski, who we covered his auction yesterday for Kevin and Kathy Wilham, Mount Palaski, they just that's the way they do it and they won't they'll just continue having them. Of course, you can have the online bidding. It's kind of the best of both worlds. I certainly understand the people go up for the efficiency of the online and everyone's busy, but like you say, the auctions are powerful people events. So yesterday, we're in Mount Palaski filming for our Machinery Pete TV show. And again, there's the business element. So I could tell you that uh Kevin had a sharp 2018 model John Deere S770 combine, 1800 engine hours, 1271 SE. And coming into the sale, I could tell you, you know, the average of the last four 18 models that I had seen was 147,400 bucks. And now if people follow Moving Iron, they've been listening to you and I talk since the middle of June about auction prices bumping up. Well, good example of that, I get looking in our Machinery Pete auction price data and back end of April an 18 model, which of course first year that 700 series. So, there was a sale, a farm auction in Cash, Arkansas. Now, you might argue and say, "Well, Arkansas tends to be a little south, maybe a little cheaper." Okay, fine. But 2004 engine hours, 18 model, nice shape. 120. Okay, that was end of April. Now, 4 days before the auction yesterday, July 10th, our good friend Ed there with Ed's Machinery in Memphis, Missouri is a big consignment sale. He sold an 18 model S770. I think 2250 engine hours went 171. Okay. So I thought that was benchmark. I was guessing yesterday on the auction Kevin's would maybe go a little, you know, maybe 180. Well, brought 194 and was very, very competitive bidding. I hope to post a YouTube video of it. So we can talk the business part of that at the auction. But like you were saying auctions are people events. So about four items before the combine was an 88 model 4450 two wheel drive 3576 original hours. Now it was in his work clothes. It wasn't like oh my god parade tractor. But remember Kevin Wilham who is fighting some very difficult health issues and again Mike Moski the auctioneer had me do a video interview with Kevin and his wife Kathy like a month before the sale. It was about the most fun video interview I've ever done. Kevin, despite his health challenges, so positive and full of stories. And he has been restoring and painting tractors for like 40 years. And not just tractors, but all kinds of equipment. So Kevin, uh let's see, this would have been almost 20 years ago, a guy came to him and wanted to restore a John Deere 3020, a one-owner, I think 67 model 3020 from by Springfield, Illinois. So they get horse trading and the guy trades Kevin this 4450 on the restoration job. And so in the sale bill for the sale yesterday, Mike Moski says 1988 John Deere 4450 two wheel drive 3576 original hours bought from Bob Paulie in Springfield, Illinois. Okay. Now, that's an example of how when you personalize anything that you're selling, I mean, it doesn't matter if you personalize it. The reason Mike did that was because again, this 4450 with low original hours, it was work clothes. It didn't look like people would think $3,500. So, he puts bought from Bob Paulie. Well, a guy sees that and calls up Andy Paulie. Now, Andy is Bob's grandson. Bob Paulie passed away a number of years ago. And this guy goes, "Hey, Andy, do you know Bob Paulie?" And Andy goes, "Oh, that's my late grandpa." Goes, "What? Why are you calling me about my late grandpa?" And he goes, "Well, I just saw the sale bill. It said this John Deere 4450 owned by Bob Paulie." So Andy, young farmer, he's stopped in his tracks. So he and his dad and mom drive up to Mount Palaski last week before the auction, visit with Kevin Wilham and Mike Moski, take pictures, buy the 4450, which was Andy's grandpa. And so I'm filming at the auction yesterday the 4450 selling. And I get kind of, you know, I'm not too focused on particular things, just recording it. Sold for 44,000 bucks. I thought that was actually not a bad buy really with those hours. But Andy bought it. So, we're filming for TV, so we got to do all this TV stuff. But out of the corner of my eye, Andy had an orange shirt on. I saw him walk across. I go, I got to catch him. So, I run over and I say, "Andy, Machinery Pete, congrats on buying the tractor man. Could I interview you with my iPhone?" And he's like, "Oh, that'd be great." So, he didn't even know that back in 2006, his grandpa Bob traded in the 4450 on the 3020 restoration. Now Andy owns the 3020, the 67 model 3020 that his grandpa bought, one owner in the family. And Andy has a hay business. And a young farmer running a hay business and his tractor is an open station 67 3020 and it just looks beautiful. And Andy in the interview said, "My brother liked air conditioning." He goes, "I never liked air conditioning. I like to be out and smell the dirt, smell the grass, smell the hay." So Andy sends me a picture of the 3020. So here he is at the auction. He meets the guy that restored his 3020 and he buys back his late grandpa's tractor. And then he texted me last night and he goes, "Pete, I can't believe it happened. I can't believe this is real. I'm sitting in the cab of the 4450 that my grandpa used to sing us songs in, me and my brother." I'm getting emotional talking about it, but that's the power of this mix of farmers and equipment and our dads and grandpas and it's just such a powerful mix. You know, an honor for us to share that on the TV show. And again, I can sit here and say, "Oh, it brought 44,000 and we could have a big long conversation about that." But to me, it's the people.

And I, you know, I've had the last two years now I've had people my age and up as I travel the country will come up and there's a real sadness about you know so much of the live in-person auction has gone away to the online. It's just a sadness and you know I understand it cuz it's what we knew growing up. I mean, auctions were I mean, you had to go to the auction or, you know, have a buddy there and call on the phone or whatever, but yeah, I think there's definitely a place for auction companies that want to carve a niche and make that it's kind of like this is kind of how we do it. And the smart auction companies are, you know, can be flexible, you know, cuz some of your clients prefer online and that's cool, very efficient, uh nice and clean. But there's room for both, for sure. And uh I think our numbers are the auction numbers we compile particularly on farm auctions would still at this point as far as we are along with the online auctions I would still tend to say the optimal result would be an in-person sale with multiple online bidding platforms.

Yeah. But that's the thing about being there in person. You can tell people that it's going home with you. Now, the most aggressive form of that is if the bid's going along in thousand increments and 40, 41,000, 42, you just bid 45. Wow. Why did he do that? Well, I always call that the jump bid. And when you do that, that's the 105% way you tell everyone in the crowd and online like, you can just forget it. This thing's mine. Yeah. Now, you have to know the number in your head. So if you did that jump in to 45, you'd have to be comfortable. Like I'll go to 52 on this thing. But when you do that, it saws off all the momentum. Yeah. Everyone else goes, that guy just So they're fascinating to watch.

Andy yesterday, he also told me he doesn't watch the other bidders, which again I think is kind of a high-level instinctive in-person auction strategy. I think the psychological thing works both ways, you know. Yep. I know my number and I'm going up to it aggressively. And he, you know, he said, "You have to be willing to let it go by." Now, I did tease Andy and I said, "Well, you weren't going to let your grandpa's tractor go by." And he kind of smiled. I think he would have gone past his number, but we understand his theory. But yeah, there's so much. I had fun a couple years ago with our good friend Zach Johnson, a millennial farmer, of course, neighbor of mine up in Lowry, Minnesota. I grew up just south of there in Benson. But Zach wanted to do and his wife Becky wanted to do a fun little piece on auction bidding strategies. So, and we were at a Steffes auction. So, the Steffes people are great, great people, great crew. So, we kind of manufactured this little thing. But I relay that one of the truths that I have seen is in an in-person auction like if I'm bidding on it and whenever I say no like no no that's I'm done. Okay for all these years I stand off to the side and film it and I watch that guy who said no and you probably about 70% of the time they're not done. They'll bid again but it takes a while. So the smart ringmen and the auctioneer, they know that guy might he's probably going to bid again. So you kind of back off a little bit and then but you come back to him. And a lot of times when people say no, they're done. They will turn and walk kind of kitty corner. They'll kind of go and I'm a data guy. So they go five to seven steps. Boom boom boom boom stop. And then the ringman comes back, puts his arm, hey John, you know it's really hard to find them this good. And my data shows they don't just bid once more, they bid about two and a half times more. But that's the auction. So that's you're there to buy an asset, but we're humans. And I think we get invested and we're also very competitive people in ag country. So if I got my head around and heart, I'm going to buy that thing. And I don't care who this other jack wagon is that thinks he's going to get it, I'm going to get that thing. I'm guilty of that. I hate to lose more than I like to win.

Well, you're an offensive lineman, Casey. You probably don't come any more aggressive than you had to be to do what you did.

Yeah. Well, we have to give ourselves some grace. It's good to have a hard firm number. But but then again, you know, life is short. And the older I get that anything that you can buy that makes you halfway smile. I don't care what it is. If it's a Well, I shouldn't stop at Dairy Queen. I'm on a diet, but I'm going to stop and get a Buster Bar. If If that makes you smile, just get the mini. That's all you got to do. Just get the mini. Yeah, you're good. Get the mini. If that makes you smile in Machinery Pete's book, you got one hell of a deal. So.

Yeah, just right on our website, folks. On the bottom there's a little email link or phone number. Just call into our office. They get word right to me right away. Or you message me on social media. Sometimes I can't keep up with the messages. I try my best, but uh yeah, probably ping our office uh the best way or just hey, I have no problem. I've been giving out my number for years. You just shoot me a text or something. 507-358-2671. And uh just uh yeah, I love heading out. I'm actually now today we're going out to film a preview for a Schmid auction. Has a really nice farm auction, folks. Look for it. August 4th in uh Toledo, Illinois. Schmid Auction. S C H M I D. Trent Schmid. Great guy, a veteran, just an awesome dude. And then we're going up to Malerie Auction to do a little preview. They got a sale coming up, I think, August 19th. Of course, everyone knows Malerie. We'll do a little preview there. And then we're going to Indiana over to Tipton, Indiana with Kripes Auction Service. They have a great sale coming, I think, August 22nd. So, we're going to do a little preview. So, watch our YouTube channel for those previews coming up.

Fantastic. Fantastic event. If you're in the farm equipment business, you got to be moving iron. You just you need to get down there. So, come join us in Louisville. Be going to be great.

Sounds great, Casey. Have a good week.