Auctioneer, publisher and herdsman - Patrick Goggins was an innovator with many talents.
1930-2015 | Artist: Richard Steward Halstead (born 1947)
Impact & Accomplishments
Patrick K. “Pat” Goggins graduated from Montana State University-Bozeman in 1952 and began his career as a herdsman and an advertising salesman for a monthly livestock magazine. Within a decade, he had moved from a sales representative to a columnist, general manager, and owner of industry publications, most notably, Western Ag Reporter.
One of the nation’s top registered Angus producers, his Vermillion Ranch in Billings has been a laboratory for new breeding techniques. Pat Goggins pioneered butterfat content as a selection tool and became one of the first breeders to synchronize estrus and to artificially inseminate his herds. An accomplished auctioneer, Goggins became involved in the market side of the industry, too, purchasing what would become Public Auction Yards (PAYS) in 1968.
Always the innovator, Goggins developed the first ring scale and revolutionized cattle sales with the first video livestock auctions.
Did You Know?
Goggins' Vermilion Ranch produces and sells more than 1,000 purebred bulls per year, while the commercial Diamond Ring ranch sells in excess of 50,000 mainly Angus-sired feeders. Goggins' publication - Western Ag Reporter - is one of the most widely read newspapers in agriculture, and his columns not only influence the management of individual producers, but also the decisions of policymakers in Washington, D.C.
"During the last 50 years, Goggins built his livestock auction business into one of the largest and most successful in the country," says Terry Cotton, general manager of Angus Productions Inc. and chairman of the nominating committee. "Pat also created the industry's first-ever video feeder cattle sale, and pioneered the use of video sales in the marketing and promotion of seedstock - a venue through which millions of cattle are now bought and sold each year. Thousands of ranchers benefit each day from these improved transaction efficiencies."
Courtesy of Angus TV
