If you’ve spent any time at a county fair livestock sale or a car auction around Ellis County, you know the sound: the chant, the rhythm, the quick glance to catch one more bid before the hammer. The people who make that sound are becoming rare in Texas. The average American auctioneer is around 40 years old, and only about half of Texas auctioneer license applicants have passed the exam over the last three years, according to reporting from Spectrum Local News. Andy Dunning, president of the Texas Auctioneers’ Association, says good auctioneers are increasingly scarce, particularly in auto sales where licensing and schooling are required.

That shortage has caught the attention of the tech industry. Companies are now pitching software that catalogs auction items and even robot auctioneers that call the bids. Dunning isn’t convinced. His view is that AI can’t read a person, which is the real art of the trade, and that a machine doesn’t carry the accountability that comes with a state license when people’s money is on the line.

The trade isn’t sitting still. The Texas Auctioneers’ Association runs classes and camps to bring younger people in, and some are already answering. Caleb Webb is 18 and Jalen Smith is 28, and both sell livestock weekly at Seguin Cattle Company. Webb’s pitch to his own generation is that it’s a job you have to genuinely enjoy, because it isn’t for everybody. With county fairs, rodeos, and equipment auctions always on our local calendar, the next generation of that chant could matter more than most folks think. Have you ever been to a live auction here in Waxahachie or anywhere in Ellis County? What do you remember about it?