Cattle Marketing Hall of Fame recognizes Jim Odle’s industry contributions 

On July 24, Jim Odle will be inducted into the Cattle Marketing Hall of Fame in Dodge City, Kansas, recognizing more than six decades of contributions to the livestock marketing industry. 

The Colorado auctioneer helped pioneer satellite video cattle auctions through Superior Livestock, expanding marketing opportunities for cattle producers and changing how cattle are bought and sold across the country. 

Growing up near Kuner, Colorado, during the 1930s, Odle never imagined where his career would lead. His family had little money and lived without indoor plumbing until he was a teenager. 

The making of an auctioneer 

After marrying his wife, Ruth Ann, in 1959, Odle planned to make a living as a farmer. But when a hailstorm wiped out his crops during their second year of marriage, he hauled four calves to a local livestock market to earn enough money to help support his family. 

“I told the guy when he unloaded me, ‘If you ever need any help, I could use a little extra money,'” Odle recalled. “He said, ‘Go park your pickup.’, and then I sorted cattle that day till 2 o’clock the next morning.” 

The experience shifted Odle’s focus from farming to livestock marketing. Odle taught himself to auctioneer by watching veteran auctioneers and asking questions about their craft. He began selling in 1962.  

“I sold a lot of fence posts and telephone poles,” he said of learning how to auctioneer. 

Odle sold cattle at several livestock markets across Colorado and Wyoming before purchasing the Brush Livestock Commission Company near Brush, Colorado, in 1969. He owned the sale barn until 1976. 

It was not long before he was an accomplished auctioneer. Odle won the World Livestock Auctioneer Central Region Championship in 1972 and the World Livestock Auctioneer Western Region Championship in 1978. 

A vision for a better market 

While operating the Brush livestock market, Odle recognized the inefficiencies of transporting cattle long distances only for them to be purchased by nearby buyers. One example stayed with him. A set of heifer calves was hauled about 400 miles to his market, only to be purchased by someone located about five miles from where the cattle originated. 

“I thought, well, maybe we have to come up with something else,” he said.  

In the 1970s, Odle started brainstorming some ideas to make cattle marketing more accessible to buyers and sellers. During this time, he began serving on an advisory board studying electronic marketing. While others on the committee envisioned conducting sales entirely by computer, Odle believed computer marketing was too much of a jump for the cattle industry at the time. 

“I felt we needed to show a picture instead,” Odle added.  

In 1972, Odle co-founded Odle Cumberlin Auctioneers, which was a dispersal auction business that sold farm machinery, real estate, heavy equipment, and also performed business liquidations 

In 1979, the company expanded into video cattle sales, allowing buyers to evaluate cattle remotely rather than requiring producers to transport them to a sale barn.  

Odle sold his ownership interest in Odle Cumberlin Auctioneers in 1986, but retained the company’s video sales division. Later that year, he formed Odle Auctions and continued with the video cattle auctions. 

The birth of Superior Livestock 

By December 1986, Odle went into business with Buddy Jeffers, who owned Amarillo Livestock Auction and Amarillo Livestock Video Auction in Amarillo, Texas. Together, they created Superior Livestock Auction as a joint venture, and incorporated satellite broadcast technology into the business. 

Superior Livestock paired prerecorded video of cattle with satellite broadcasts, allowing buyers across the country to watch the sale and bid by telephone without traveling to the ranch or sale barn. 

Superior Livestock held the first national satellite cattle auction in January 1987 during the National Western Stock Show in Denver. Although Odle admitted he questioned whether the expense associated with a satellite auction could be justified, his concerns were resolved after the first sale was a success. 

“All the local buyers and the big local feedlots were there at the auction, but they hardly bought any cattle,” he said. “Other buyers came in over the satellite and bought them. One guy ended up adding a bunch of cattle to his contract, so we ended up selling 101% at the first sale.” 

Odle said he knew the satellite concept would be a viable long-term marketing method when it was accepted by the older cattle producers. 

“The old ranchers grabbed right ahold and said, ‘Yes, we need it,'” Odle said. “The younger ranchers were the ones who wanted to stand back and wait-and-see. The older ranchers could remember when the market was bad, and nobody came to buy their cattle, and they realized that they needed more than one order buyer to stop by the ranch.” 

A Superior business 

Superior Livestock grew into one of the nation’s largest livestock marketing firms, eventually selling more than 1 million head annually. Odle and his partners sold the business in 2007, but he remained general manager until retiring from that role in 2013. 

“I could never imagine it getting that big until we were into it two or three years,” Odle said.  

Odle said the changes in marketing during his career have also improved the quality, health and consistency of beef cattle. Producers were incentivized to adopt vaccination and breeding programs to meet buyers’ expectations across the country. 

“When we first started the video sales, you would show a set of cattle from Louisiana or Florida, and they’d look like they’re from a different country. Today, you can’t tell their quality from the quality in Montana.” 

According to Odle, expanding the buyer base created an overall better market for producers, but also gave buyers access to the types of cattle they desired.  

“I’ve been a firm believer that if we would have had this back 50 or 60 years ago when we had somewhere close to 50 packers in the United States, we’d have a lot of packers yet today, because they could have bought the cattle that fit them and because we wouldn’t have had to travel,” Odle added. 

Despite advances in technology, he said local livestock auction markets remain an essential part of the industry by providing a marketing outlet for producers with small numbers of cattle or animals needing to be sold quickly. 

“You still have a good set of buyers, and I think that’s hasn’t changed a lot, and it’s still a very important part of market.” 

A life built on family, faith and hard work 

Looking back over more than six decades in the business, Odle credits his family for helping make his career possible. He recalled traveling extensively while Ruth Ann and their children—Deanna, Ted, Amy, and Tom—managed responsibilities at home.  

Odle remembers returning home from a horse sale in Fort Worth after his 12-year-old son called to say the tractor clutch had failed. By the time Odle arrived home, his son had already replaced it.  

In May 2026, Ruth Ann died, ending a marriage of over 65 years. 

“She stayed with me when we were broke and when we were doing good,” Odle explained. “We were all right in there fighting together. But the most important thing that has gotten me to where I am today, is a trust in the Lord, and standing by my word, regardless of what it was or what needed to be done.” 

In addition to his work with Superior, Odle owned the Amarillo Livestock Auction from 1994 to 1996. He also serves as executive producer of Cowboy Church on RFD-TV, a program he helped launch to share Christian messages with rural audiences. 

Throughout his career, Odle has been recognized by numerous organizations. His honors include the Colorado Auctioneers Hall of Fame, National Auctioneers Association Hall of Fame, Colorado Agriculture Hall of Fame, National Cowboy Hall of Fame & Museum’s Hall of Westerners and the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame Leadership Award. 

Additionally, Superior Livestock was awarded the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Beef Industry Visionary Award and inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame. Odle said he is honored to be recognized in the Cattle Marketing Hall of Fame as well. 

“Cattle marketing is something that I’ve done for a while and enjoyed every bit of it,” Odle said. “It’s given me the opportunity to help a lot of people, and that’s been such a blessing.” 

Lacey Vilhauer can be reached at 620-227-1871 or [email protected].