It was the summer of 2012 when I first donned the famous pink Elders long sleeved shirt, and for the last four years, I have had the privilege of being employed as a Livestock Agent for Elders Rural Services in Yea, North East Victoria.
When my employment began, I swiftly became involved in the livestock sector working underneath Bruce Elliott and Jim Hutchinson. As the new kid on the block, my role as an employee was merely to learn, listen and eventually create my own livestock business. The Yea selling complex was our most common means of marketing store cattle and the majority of our prime cattle went north to Shepparton.
Our sales calendar at Yea would consist of a monthly store sale, two or three feature sales throughout the year and of course the well renowned Weaner Sales come January. It wasn’t long before farmers, agents and the general public caught on as to how good of a market centre Yea really was and it also wasn’t long until our yarding numbers increased, as well as our sale frequency.
Through council funding our saleyards received a significant upgrade, one being the addition of a roof covering our 190 pen saleyard and the other a complete transformation of our canteen.
A lot has changed in the past four years and things will continue to change moving forward into the far more tech savvy future. Here at Elders, our means of marketing store and prime stock have significantly altered in the time I have been here.
As livestock agents our role is to think outside the square and provide multiple options of marketing and secure the best price for our clients. Such marketing tools as AuctionsPlus, feedlot & over the hooks entry, private on farm sales and international export orders have soon become a big part in our means of marketing livestock.
I have taken a large grasp on utilising AuctionsPlus as I believe it may well become the future in our selling avenues. Obviously, each marketing regime has its pros and cons and this is where our role as agents comes into play.
Moving forward in the next twelve months, the Yea selling complex is looking extremely likely to have its new scales installed giving us the opportunity to weigh our store cattle. Additional pens will also be created to facilitate this operation, along with a double-deck loading ramp also being built.
This will also in my opinion severely increase our cattle numbers on a monthly basis as the demand to buy cattle with indicative or actual weights is continually increasing. Buyers like to know exactly what they are getting, whether they are paying 400c/kg for a 300kg animal compared to a 280kg animal, can affect their profit margin significantly.
Being a centrally located saleyard these upgrades will without doubt attract cattle from a broader area and also give local producers full confidence in selling store cattle for a satisfactory price that is relative to their weight.
The beef and lamb industry is continually improving via technological upgrades and if we as agents or producers do not embrace these changes, we will be left behind. I believe our role plays a vital part in ensuring livestock producers receive top value for their hard earned work and it is imperative that we continue to be open minded and accept that our industry will continue to change moving forward.
