World champion auctioneer Jace Thompson visits Lewistown Livestock Auction

There was an unusual vehicle parked outside the Lewistown Livestock Auction office ahead of the sale on Tuesday, Sept. 15.

Amongst the regular cars, pickups and trailers was a truck with “World Livestock Auctioneer Champion” on the side of it.

Jace Thompson, a 23-year-old auctioneer from Billings, was in town.

On June 20, Thompson won the Livestock Marketing Association’s World Livestock Auctioneer Championship in St. Onge, S.D. The title of “world champion” gives him the opportunity to be an ambassador for agriculture across the United States and Canada.

“I grew up around Montana, so I was used to the Montana way and these independent producers. I thought that was just how we did it here,” Thompson said. “I went to Virginia about 3-4 weeks ago, and it was the same thing down there... there was probably 150 people in that barn who brought two, five, (and) seven head (of cattle) into the sale. It was very cool to see those small producers, those small families.”

Many of those families, both in Montana and Virginia, own ranches that have been passed down for generations. Most of them plan to keep passing the operation on to their children.

“I want them (the kids) to be able to have an opportunity to get back involved in the ranch,” Thompson said. “These livestock auctions are the best way to keep those ranchers operating in a profitable manner.”

Being involved in the ranch, and livestock auctions, played a huge role in Thompson’s journey to being a world champion.

“My family was based in Wyoming; my grandparents still live down in the Riverton-Lander area. My dad grew up there and then moved up to Billings and worked close with the Goggins family,” Thompson, who grew up “backgrounding” cattle with his family, explained. “I’ve been around the business my whole life.”

As he was growing up, Thompson was watching his dad, Ty, chase the same dream he’s now living.

“My dad was a champion in 2009... so I was able to go to some conventions as a kid and see some of the best auctioneers in the world compete,” he explained.

However, before Thompson became the first ever second-generation world champion auctioneer, he wasn’t set on this career path.

“I worked in the real estate business for a while, worked on a hay crew, and did plenty of different jobs all through middle school and high school,” he said. “I went to college for about a semester and decided it wasn’t going to work for me. I needed to find something and latch onto it. I chose auctioneering on the cattle side.”

On Sept. 15, Thompson got to show that he made the correct life choice.

As he entered the auction block around 1 p.m., Thompson looked into a crowd made up of the present and future generations of agriculturalists. He knew many of them.

“I grew up in Billings, but I’ve been able to expand my reach to where I’ve got to know a lot of the producers around this area,” Thompson said, adding that it was a “really cool” experience to be in the block. “They’re some of the best and most deep-rooted producers that our state has.”

For the next eight months, Thompson will take his custom wrapped truck across North America, meeting more deep-rooted producers while helping sell their animals.

“(Auctions) give us a chance to market the best and most wholesome protein to the public population, (and) the way we’re doing it right now, in my mind, is the best way,” Thompson said. “We don’t want an overly large amount of consolidation in our industry. We want to keep these small guys alive and keep the independent part of our business.”