In today’s Beef Buzz, senior farm and ranch broadcaster Ron Hays speaks with Joe Barbour, area representative for the Livestock Marketing Association, who discusses the critical role livestock auction markets play in price discovery, the remarkable cattle market of 2026, and the upcoming Livestock Marketing Association convention and World Livestock Auctioneer Championship in South Dakota.
LMA Represents the Majority of America’s Auction Markets
Barbour said the Livestock Marketing Association serves as the leading voice for livestock auction markets and dealers across the nation. “The Livestock Marketing Association is the largest trade group for livestock auction markets and dealers across the country,” Barber said. “We represent over 80% of the regularly selling livestock markets across the country, and over 90% of those markets in Oklahoma are LMA members.”
According to Barbour, the organization works on behalf of its members in a variety of areas, from policy and regulatory issues to business services. “We work to be the voice for our members in policy, in government, in industry affairs, and we assist them on a broad range of topics,” he explained. “Anything dealing from working through a Packers and Stockyards issue to insurance, and we try to be their voice and their one-stop shop for anything livestock marketing related.”
Big and Small Markets Have an Equal Voice
One of the strengths of LMA, Barbour said, is the diversity of its membership. “Whether you’re the smallest one or the largest one, you have an equal voice and say,” Barbour said.
That membership ranges from specialized markets handling small volumes to some of the largest livestock auction operations in the country. “We have all different shapes and sizes from across the country of markets represented,” he said. “Markets that sell 100 head of dairy calves a week to some of the largest stocker livestock markets across the country, and everybody in between.”
Auction Markets Remain the Foundation of Price Discovery
When it comes to cattle marketing, Barbour said auction barns remain the gold standard for determining value through open competition. “That’s really the reason that these markets exist,” Barber said. “We are setting the market across the country through live competitive bidding of livestock.”
He emphasized that auction markets provide true price discovery by bringing multiple buyers together in a competitive environment. “What our members are working to do is get the most value for that animal, get what it’s worth for that day in the ring in front of a competitive buyer base,” he said.
Barbour noted that producers benefit directly from the auction process. “They’re going to market your livestock in a way to bring you the most money in front of a competitive bidding process,” he said. “When you get competition involved and folks bidding against each other, there’s really no telling what some of this livestock will bring.”
Historic Cattle Prices Reward Producers
Barbour described 2026 as one of the most exciting periods he has witnessed in the cattle business. “It’s an incredible time to be in the business, not only owning these livestock auction businesses, but our producers,” Barbour said. “Couldn’t be happier for those folks. The prices that we’ve achieved in Oklahoma are just incredible.”
Demand remains strong across virtually every class of cattle. “All the markets across the state are firing on all cylinders, and the demand is huge for these calves and these yearlings and these packer cows, and everything in between,” he said.
Barbour credited strong competition among buyers for helping push prices to record levels. “There’s a lot of demand for the product, and it’s got these feedyards and these grazers paying top dollar to get them in their inventory,” he said.
For cow-calf producers especially, the market has created opportunities that have been years in the making. “The cow-calf man has worked many years without being able to really put some money back, and they’re in the driver’s seat right now, so couldn’t be happier for them,” Barbour said.
He added that many of the record-setting cattle sales making headlines are occurring at local auction markets. “In almost all cases, when you hear about someone topping the market or being able to put that on social media that they got this for their cattle, it’s almost always at auction.”
Deadwood Convention and World Livestock Auctioneer Championship Ahead
Barbour also highlighted the upcoming 2026 Livestock Marketing Association Annual Convention, which will be held in Deadwood, South Dakota. “We’re having our annual convention of the Livestock Marketing Association in Deadwood, South Dakota.”
The event will feature educational sessions and discussions on some of the industry’s most pressing issues. “We’re going to have some really good meetings and speakers to bring our members together and make sure they’re up to speed on topics that are going on in the industry,” he said. “Talking about everything from New World screwworm to ways to protect their business from financial loss, to networking and bringing these folks together.”
The convention will conclude with one of the livestock industry’s premier events—the World Livestock Auctioneer Championship. “We’ve got 31 of the top auctioneers across the country pulled from three regional contests, plus the champion from Canada,” Barbour said.
The competition will be hosted at St. Onge Livestock Auction in South Dakota, where one auctioneer will earn the industry’s highest honor. “We’re bringing them into one spot and trying to find that best auctioneer that’s going to represent our industry over the next year,” Barbour said. “We’ll crown him champion Saturday night to finish off our convention, and we’re excited to go to South Dakota.”
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR above for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
