Dannevirke livestock agent Lars Hardy wins second place in young auctioneers

Up against the best of young auctioneers in the Heartland Young Auctioneers Competition. From left, Cameron Gray from PGW South Canterbury came third, Karl Chitham, from Carrfields NZ (Waikato) took the title and Lars Hardy, PGG Wrightson, Dannevirke, took second place.

Lars Hardy reckons he was a bit surprised to find he’d won the blue ribbon for second place in a young auctioneers competition.

Lars, at 23, was competing against eight others in the Heartland Young Auctioneers Competition, part of the New Zealand Agricultural Show in Christchurch earlier this month.

Open to anyone under the age of 30, each contestant is asked to demonstrate their ability; first in an interview day, testing their communication skills and knowledge of the terms and conditions relating to livestock auctioneering, and then the following day in the live auctioneering segment, where each contestant is required to sell three pens of prime cattle.

Lars and his competitors, three from the North Island and six from Canterbury, went head-to-head, gavel to gavel, testing their skills among some of the nation’s most accomplished young rural professionals.

Lars, a sheep and beef rep for Dannevirke PGG Wrightson Livestock, entered last year and decided he would come back to endure another round.

Karl Chitham from Carrfields NZ (Waikato) was the winner and Cameron Gray from PGW, South Canterbury took third place.

Originally off a farm in Central Hawke’s Bay, Lars has been a rep for PGG Wrightson for over a year and in the livestock industry for over three years.

His manager Bjorn Andersen offered Lars plenty of encouragement and persuaded him to try his hand at auctioneering.

It is on-the-job learning and the more Lars practised, the more he enjoyed it. Even practising in his car between jobs.

He says being an auctioneer is an art. While you do have to know stock inside and out, you also have to have charisma, the patter, be able to read the crowd, and the body language.

Lars says he has a competitive nature and enjoys being in a good field of young auctioneers. Even though these young men are competing against each other it is also a learning experience for them all and having a debrief after the day is over is just part of the job.

“As auctioneers, we have to do the best we can,” he says.

“It’s important to get the best money you can for your clients.”

As for whether he will be back next year to try for the title, he can compete until he is 30, so he still has time.

The winner of the Heartland Bank Young Auctioneers Competition wins a trip to the Sydney Royal Show to try their hand at a bit of auctioneering there and Lars says he would be keen to do that.