The Lucknow Sentinel, 1996-03-13, Page 260
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The mystical world of auctions
Chris Slosser
Almost every week your local
newspaper provides au invita-
tion
nvita-tion to travel to another world,
to visit a distiuet cultures To get
to this mystical, world, you
don't have to erose arty Moun-
tains, Seim anyseas or manipu-
late any maps,,
No, this world exists in your
own community,, probably on
the;' other side of some barn door
or through the entrance to some
arena. And the directions are
clear:�gp=flouncing
fol' ae . flag sh ng sign
an iouncing "Auction ITere.
Stepping through the doors of
an auction barn is stepping to
another world. Auctions have an
identity all to their own; a sense
of place, "a sense of gathering, a
sense of community. They even
have. their own language .and
economy.
he *people at auctions are»an
intriguing lot. Some are grouped
in clusters of friend s or acquain-
tances, sharing stories. of humor
or horror. Others circulate.
throughout the room, churning
between the personalities, lis.
tening to this story, leaving that,
as., their curiosity wakes or
wanes,,
Whether clustered or circulat-
ing, all have come to participate
in the auction's market, system..
All have inspected the china or
chairs, the tools or tractors, the,
calves or cattle, and all know
what they want.
So it's no surprise that when
the group's leader, the auction-
eerr,. steps to the front, all atten-
tion is diverted to him or her.
The slightest distraction and.
that prized piece, that antique
armoire, may be gone forever.
"It's the oldest ' barter system
in' the world," David Carson,.
who has been auctioneering
since attending auction school
in Mason. City, Iowa in '1968,.
says, of the auction economy,
"There, are people who come to
an, auction because:. they think
they're going to get something
cheap and'there are people who
have auctions because they
think they're going to make a
Infra -red
-•There's-a- faster, safer new
.method for Meat -quality„ 'assess-
inept that's red-hot
red-hot from a University of
Guelph laboratory.
A new •device •that uses near-
infra- re"d (NIR) .light to make
suirem that meat is being .cooled at
the '.right •rate has been devel-
opeid b " animal and poultry sci
ence professor;' 'Howard
Swatland.
"The sooner` meat is 'wooled:
:after slaughter, the longer
shelf life is," says S,watland.:
►'hut if 'it's:;cooled too fast, the
.lot. It wore both ways. There
are going to be some bargains
ains.
and there are going. to be gangs
that get a good price," •
Carson, whose auction service
is located in Listowel,, saysthe
market value of an, item outside
the auction may not mean any-
thing to .the same item in an
auction, "Market value: is what
an item will bring" at :a publ
auction that: day.". ,
And then theru.'s that lan
guage: auction r esr the
impossible ability. to string
together a sequence of selling
prices, item descriptions, pur-
chaser proddings, even comical
quips, into less than one breath
of air. •
"It helps a lot if you're born
automatically with a fast
tongue," says. auctioneer Grant
McDonald of Ripley, when
asked about his auction chant.
He also went to auction
school in Mason City but says
the school didn't work much on
developing his chant speed.
Instead, Mriponalid says he was
given inimber drills to practice,
which included countingby
qu4ters, halves, two -and -a-
lyes,: etc.,: but speed wasn't
seed.
F Speed comes�ywith the bbusst
cess," according to Dien'
Murray, operator of the
Southwestern Ontario School of
Auctienecring in Woodstock,
"In our seven day course we
teach the very basics of learn g
- number drills, filler words and
rhythm words."
Filler words are important so
that an auctioneer isn't simply
listing prices of an item, and
*turn to page 11
After'a1 years of auctions, Len Metcalfe, of Mildmay;
keeps his : auctioneering voice in shape by practicing,
chants while driving his ear. Metcalfe recently won the
Experienced Class and :Ontario Grand Auctioneer
awards; (Chris Slosssr photo)
tender meat
muscles contract and the meat
becomes tough. It's a dilemma
in the meat industry.. This near -
infra -red technology will enable
packers to crank.:dowwn the tem-
perature until Just before the
muscles begin tocontract and
then stop."
`When a carcass. cools down
too quickly,: the system in the
body that causes the muscles to
contract is activated. Tiny box-
like structures in the muscles
called sarcomeres became
shorter and condensed,, and the
result is tough meat. So if meat
packers want to be able to cool
meat as fast as possible to make
it keep longer, the NIR appara-
tus may be just what they need.
Swatland's :.apparatus emits
light that is near -infra -red on the
light spectrum. Besides being
"invisib:le, it's also cold, so it
doesn't heat the meat. The near -
infra -red travels through a meat
sample and out the other side,
during which it detects `'some-
thing called "birefringence."
Birefringence occurs when light
hits very ordered molecules and
*tip to page 11
.A•