TORQUAY — The online auction of Torquay-area farmer Duane Forrester’s agriculture equipment generated lots of interest, not only for the quantity but also for its quality.
The sale, run by the Steffes Group, was held Dec. 11-16. Auctioneer Jason LeBlanc described it as a “fantastic” event.
“This equipment hit the top and it was worth the top,” LeBlanc told SaskToday. “It’s a premium line of equipment.”
The items started to close at 10 a.m. on Dec. 16 and the auction wrapped up at around 1 p.m. LeBlanc pointed out about 50 per cent of the bids were submitted during the last 30 minutes, so it was interesting to watch.
“It took an entire lifetime to build this farm, and it took us less than three hours to … dismantle it,” said LeBlanc, describing it as an emotional time for those who were involved.
Top-selling items included sprayers that went for $635,000. Tires added to their value. One of the tractors went for $650,000, LeBlanc said, and two of the combines went for about $600,000. Air drills also sold well, he said.
“There really wasn’t a bargain on anything, but the quality of the equipment made it worth the money, so buyers and sellers are very happy,” said LeBlanc.
Most of the equipment was within 10 per cent of the estimate, LeBlanc said.
“No two air drills are the same. No two combines are the same,” LeBlanc said. “Some people will look at equipment and say ‘Well, I can get a better deal somewhere else’, but every piece of equipment has to be judged and looked at by itself.”
The sale had about 20,470 total bidders, he said. Bidders came from every Canadian province and 16 American states.
LeBlanc admitted he was surprised that very little equipment went to the U.S. Approximately 50-60 per cent of his phone calls before the sale were from the U.S., but the tariffs have created uncertainty.
“Nobody can give you a solid answer at the border about the tariffs on used farm equipment, so it kind of scared off a few buyers, but when we did the exchange rates and compared it to equipment we sold just the day before – we had a sale very similar to this one at Williston [N.D.] – and this equipment sold about 15 per cent higher across the board. That’s just Canadians buying the equipment. So even with the exchange rate factor, it still brought more money and not much of it went south.”
Forrester was “excellent” to work with throughout the process, LeBlanc said.
“I’ve been doing auctions in this part of the world for 35 or 36 years now, and he was at one of my first auctions. He was a very young man back then, and when he was having a sale, he gave me a call and said ‘I watched you grow all through your life, and want you to come over and have a visit.’ And he was very good. He did everything that was asked of him.”
Picking a date is the toughest thing in the process, LeBlanc said, and they were able to pull it off on six weeks’ notice. In the first two weeks alone, the sale was listed and marketed. The equipment was washed and cleaned. Approximately 150-175 photos were taken and uploaded for the advertising. That left four weeks for promotion. LeBlanc described all of the work as “an undertaking”.
He thanked everyone for their support, and said he believes the sale generated so much interest because of of the interest in the Steffes Group. Now that the company is in Canada, they are finding it easy to navigate and be transparent with its online auctions. He also credited Forrester for the work he has done to maintain his equipment.
“Duane Forrester’s name is very powerful in itself. With the Forrester family, there’s several brothers and cousins. The Forrester family used to have the dealerships. It goes back generations.”
To see a member of the family have a sale, it’s going to draw interest, LeBlanc said.
