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Feeders, Packers and Industry Leaders

Jim Odle: The Colorado Auctioneer Who Took Cattle Sales to Video and Satellite

A rancher who learned to sell cattle from a tractor seat, Odle helped move cattle auctions from the sale barn to hotel ballrooms, satellite feeds and the internet.

Who is Jim Odle?

Jim Odle is a Colorado rancher and auctioneer best known as a founder of Superior Livestock Auction, a company that sells cattle by video and satellite broadcast. Drovers' 2019 profile calls his marketing revolutionary, and the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame gave him its 2019 Industry Leadership Award rather than a standard induction.

He lives on a farm and ranch south of Brush, Colorado, where he and his wife, Ruth Ann, have run a cow-calf and feeder operation and raised quarter horses.

From a Massey Harris seat to the sale barn

Odle practiced auctioneering as a teenager from the seat of a Massey Harris tractor. He never attended auctioneer school. He sorted cattle two days a week at the Weld County Livestock Commission Company in Greeley, where he got his first chance to sell. The National Cowboy Museum's Hall of Great Westerners biography says he began auctioneering in 1962, mentored by Claude Redman.

He married Ruth Ann Dunn in 1959, and the couple farmed and ranched near Kuner until 1969. Around 1964 he acquired the Weld County Livestock Commission Company, later sold it and joined the Brush Livestock Commission Company, which he bought in 1969 and owned until 1976. Weekly sales took him across Colorado and Wyoming.

Video auctions in hotel ballrooms

In 1972 Odle and Chuck Cumberlin formed Odle Cumberlin Auctioneers, and the pair is credited with pioneering seasonal video cattle auctions. Drovers dates the firm's life as 1972 through 1986 and says the first seasonal video sales began in fall 1979, held in hotel ballrooms.

The format stayed in place for years and became the base for what Superior did next. The Hall of Great Westerners says the company led video cattle auctions by using satellite broadcast and, later, internet technology.

Superior Livestock Auction and 35 million cattle

In fall 1986 Odle and Buddy Jeffers merged their video auctions and added satellite broadcast to form Superior. The first sale, at the National Western Stock Show in 1987, sold all 21,000 cattle offered. That first year Superior offered 336,000 head and sold 282,000, or 84 percent.

The peak came in 2005, with 1,913,600 offered and 1,680,000 sold, an 88 percent sell-through. In 2018 the company offered 1,483,700 and sold 1,336,400, or 90 percent. Drovers says Superior has marketed more than 35 million cattle since it began.

The Key to Odle's Success

Odle's career shows a pattern of taking a skill learned on the ground, selling livestock, and attaching it to new communication technology as it appeared. Each step moved the buyer's view of the cattle further from the pen and closer to a screen.

He also kept coming back. He and Jeffers sold their interests in spring 2007, but in 2009 the lending institution asked Odle to return as general manager, and he still owns an interest in the company.

  • Learn the craft in the barn: he sorted cattle and sold at Weld County before expanding.
  • Own the auction: he owned or held interests in sales at Greeley, Brush and Amarillo.
  • Add video, then satellite: seasonal video sales in 1979 and the satellite merger in 1986 widened the buyer pool.
  • Partner with a rival: merging with Buddy Jeffers produced a larger national sale.
  • Stay close to the industry: he served on the NCBA Marketing Committee and in auctioneer and livestock marketing associations.

Honors and later work

Drovers lists the Colorado Auctioneer Hall of Fame in 1995, Record Stockman's Man of the Year in Livestock in 1997, a Beef Industry Vision award shared with Jeffers in 2006, the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2012, the Colorado Agriculture Hall of Fame in 2015, a Livestock Publications Council Headliner award in 2017 and the Hall of Great Westerners in 2018.

He also founded Cowboy Church TV, a Christian service broadcast on RFD TV, and supports the All American Beef Battalion. The hall's Industry Leadership Award page records his 2019 recognition.

Readers who like marketing history can browse the ranching section of farm.FM, or open a farm.FM story about the livestock auction.

Timeline

  1. 1959Marries Ruth Ann Dunn; the couple farm and ranch near Kuner
  2. 1962Begins auctioneering, according to the Hall of Great Westerners
  3. 1969Buys the Brush Livestock Commission Company
  4. 1972Co-founds Odle Cumberlin Auctioneers; wins Central Region livestock auctioneer title
  5. 1979Starts seasonal video cattle auctions in hotel ballrooms
  6. 1986Merges with Buddy Jeffers to form Superior using satellite broadcast
  7. 1987First Superior sale at the National Western sells 21,000 head
  8. 2007Sells his interest in Superior; returns as general manager in 2009
  9. 2018Inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners

Frequently asked questions

Who is Jim Odle?

Jim Odle is a Colorado rancher and auctioneer who co-founded Superior Livestock Auction, the video and satellite cattle marketer. He lives near Brush, Colorado, and received the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame Industry Leadership Award in 2019.

What is Superior Livestock Auction?

Superior is a video and satellite cattle auction formed in 1986 when Odle and Buddy Jeffers merged their video sales. It has marketed more than 35 million cattle since its first sale in 1987.

Is Jim Odle in the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame?

He received the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame Industry Leadership Award in 2019. The 2019 inductees were Bill Foxley and James Herring, so Odle was honored in a separate award category.

When did Jim Odle join the Hall of Great Westerners?

The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum inducted Jim Odle into the Hall of Great Westerners in 2018, recognizing his work in cattle marketing and livestock auctioneering.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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