Breaking New Ground

by B. Lynn Gordon photos courtesy DV Auction BREAKING N ew Ground

DVAuction pioneered the livestock Internet marketing business.

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.

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.”

WEATHER WORRIES

Another challenge DVA and sellers experience together is the weather. A large number of their sales are held in the spring when winter weather can be unpredictable. Most of the sales DVA hosts are both a live and online sale. “The breeder ultimately wants the buyers to be on-site to be able to view the bulls in person, and of course the sale staff, such as the auctioneers and ringman, are also critical,” says Justin Dikoff, area representative for DVA. Dikoff based in South Dakota knows all too well what impact weather can have. “I had numerous sales in spring 2019 rescheduled due to winter weather.”

Weather can also cause issues for the seller and his ability to get the cattle ready for sale day, penned, and fed. Thus, when the weather is a factor, sales are often rescheduled for a later date, and Dikoff and the DVA team do their best to be flexible and accommodate the seller. “Sale day is an important day for these breeders; it’s the majority of their income in one day, so it has to be done right,” he says. Having internet

coverage to publish the sale online provides an insurance policy for sellers. It means more people can view and bid on the sale if weather or other issues impact their attendance.

That was the case with COVID-19. “When restrictions limited the number of buyers at the sale site, some sellers had no other option but to go ahead with the sale, and have buyers do the majority of the bidding online,” says Dikoff.

BUYER APPRECIATION

As online technology improves, the buyers are showing their support. Buyers can watch the sale from their kitchen table or office, which is a huge time and cost saver to them. The elimination of having to travel to the site; not only saves time but can be important to their ranching business, as many bull sales happen in the height of calving season. Yet, they can bid real-time or by proxy and not miss out on an opportunity to purchase genetics to advance their herds.

At the DVA headquarters in northeast Nebraska, eight customer service reps help to manage the buyer end of the transaction. They assist with signing up and approving the buyers, answer log in questions, and assist the programmers in viewing and monitoring sales for quality control.

“Our buyers tell us we have a very user-friendly operating system and the sellers like all the options we offer with photos, videos, online catalogs, links to their website, or other information,” says Soukup. All these pieces of information or access to more information are found on the screen making it streamlined for the buyer to find.

As COVID-19 forced many buyers to consider buying online for the first time, this meant they had to become familiar with the system. “We have worked hard to have a platform that is easy for buyers to navigate and this paid off during this hectic time,” says Dikoff, one of 50 company fieldreps. DVA also provides tutorials and practice bidding for any firsttime bidders to get comfortable with the platform before sales begin.

DVA offers on-site videography and editing to their customers.

VALUABLE VIDEOS

Videos are an essential element that makes the internet sales coverage successful. Trained videographers and editors using the latest video equipment and software can film the sale offering and edit the videos to show off the quality of the offering. Ranch logos or client names are added to the video along with the sale entry number. The videos are designed to play instantly and are adaptable to mobile devices. Added along with the video, each animal/lot has a customized page featuring their pedigree, EPDs,

An example of what a sale page looks like prior to sale day.

footnotes all accessible while potential buyers view the video. On average, individual video catalog pages have between 900 – 1,000 viewers, DVA reports. Links to producer’s website, full catalog, contact information, web traffic reports on each video lot are available. DVA does not use ‘YouTube,’ therefore customers will not be directed to unrelated content.

“Our platform is the only one where the buyer can see the pedigree of the animal while that animal is selling,” says Dikoff. “If they didn’t get a hard-copy catalog in the mail buyers have the information right there to view and prevent any added hesitation in the buying process.”

On sale day, DVA reps set up three cameras around the sale ring to ensure multiple views for those watching and trying to see the animal in the ring. “We do everything we can to make the buyer have the best experience they can,” Dikoff says. In addition, DVA is unique in the marketplace by allowing buyers to choose between watching the sale ‘live’ where they can see the animal in the ring or watching the pre-recorded video during the sale of any animal. Buyers can go back and forth throughout the sale depending on which view they want to watch.

A ‘TV Sale’ hosted by DVAuction for Hoffmann Angus Farms in North Dakota.

Most sales DVA covers consist of the blended format, where the cattle go through the ring and are also projected online. However, as technology has advanced and sellers become more comfortable with internet-based auctions, many producers are opting to reduce the stress and hassle on sale day of moving the cattle through the ring. Rather, they have opted for what DVA refers to as a ‘TV sale’. In this case, three large TV monitors are set up in front of the crowd, often where the sale ring would be, and the pre-recorded videos of the animals plays during the auction. “I probably only had five sales this year where no pre-video was made, and we just broadcasted the sale live,” reports Dikoff.

Weather is not only a challenge come sale day but also on video day. “It was difficult to find enough warm days or ones that were not stormy to be able to get high-quality videos for our sellers.”

OTHER SERVICES

Beef cattle are the main driver behind DVA’s online presence; however, they do host horse, Boer goat, lamb, land, and other specialty auctions. Other services for seedstock producers include on-line bid-offs, private treaty listings, and web-based advertising (e-blasts). The e-blasts are sent directly from a producer’s email address and can reach over 100,000 livestock producers with one email.

The team at DVA takes its role seriously. They understand when a cattle producer allows you to come in and video his cattle, edit the videos, host the sale, allow buyers to bid online, and impact such a sizeable amount of his income, that top-notch service and quality products and people is the only way to meet that need.

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DVA Rep Logan Hoffmann works the ring on sale day.