G N I K A E BNRew Ground by B. Lynn Gordon photos courtesy DV Auction
DVAuction pioneered the livestock Internet marketing business.
August 2020
Founded in 1999, by Dan Broz, of Norfolk, NE, and seven investors, the idea was crafted to utilize the Internet to broadcast, auction sales from livestock markets across the Midwest in real-time. The idea was launched with coverage from three salebarns. A video camera was set up to view the sale ring and auctioneer and an on-site representative from DVA managed the process to be able to display the auction to cattlemen and provide the cattle industry with coverage of the markets not offered through other reporting outlets. Today, Broz is sole owner of DVAuction (DVA) having acquired the ownership interests of the other investors.
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With the initial focus on livestock auction markets, DVA’s real-time Internet broadcasting now offers much more. In 2019, DVA’s Internet platform hosted 7,000 sales, with 1,200 of those being seedstock production sales. Most sales are offered free to the viewing public. With this technology,
stockmen can easily view a bull sale in South Carolina, Oregon, Kansas and Canada, all on the same day, and all within hours of each other. Online cattle sales are now a viable way to market cattle. DVA’s video platform is accessed by the largest database of potential bidders, over 300,000 and growing daily. DVAuction. com records over one million website views per month as bidders and viewers access the site to see the listing of sales or to log in to view and bid on cattle. As their tagline says – ‘Often imitated – Never Duplicated’
TWO KEY RESOURCES “All we need is Internet access and electrical power and we can broadcast a sale from any auction market or ranch sale barn,” says Heather Soukup, DVA’s General Manager, Norfolk, NE. Fortunately, the spread of broadband access in rural areas continues to grow along with cellular technology,
and this progression has laid the groundwork for companies like DVA to expand their offerings and outreach. However, the company is always prepared with back up air cards from every cellular provider available notes Soukup, as it’s their goal to be prepared. Yet, the company can never make a 100% guarantee of fault-free transmission because sometimes broadband and cellular transmission are out of their control. While Internet access can be an outlier, the company prides itself on being on top of the ever-changing technology. “Things are always changing,” says Soukup. “Our seven full-time programmers keep up to date on computer operating systems, software, hosting capabilities, camera, and video equipment. “Our staff watch every sale, monitoring audio, video, and other technology components to make sure all goes smoothly. If any issues, they troubleshoot with the on-site rep.”
thestockmanmag.com | THE STOCKMAN
