Jack Ginnane, Nutrien, wins ALPA Victorian Young Auctioneer Comp

Jack Ginnane, Nutrien South Gippsland Livestock, Leongatha, won the Australia Livestock & Property Agents Victorian Young Auctioneer Competition at Pakenham on Monday.

It was the second time Mr Ginnane, 25, has won the title after he claimed the same gong in 2020, just months after he started selling cattle at Leongatha.

"It could have gone to anyone because every auctioneer did a fantastic job and has put in training throughout the year," Mr Ginnane said.

"An area of focus for me when selling is tempo and knowing when to lift and lower your voice, along with learning how to read the play if you're coming close to the end of an auction."

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Mr Ginnane competed against nine other young Victorian male auctioneers who travelled from as far as Ballarat, Casterton, Barnawartha, Albury, NSW, and Korumburra.

The 10 2022 ALPA Victorian Young Auctioneer Competition finalists included:

The auctioneers were judged on four criteria: their diction, voice, values and manner and had the chance to sell three lots of cattle.

Mr Ginnane sells prime cattle at the Victorian Livestock Exchange at Leongatha each week and has worked as a stock agent for seven years.

He originally started with Landmark SGL before it was rebranded with the Nutrien name.

"When I won the competition in 2020, I'd only been selling for about two or three months," he said.

"It was a very even competition because I had Harry Cozens on top, followed by Ned Balharrie at second so it was a bit of a surprise."

Mr Ginnane said he was grateful for the support of a number of Nutrien mentors, including Nutrien SGL directors Eddy Hams and Stuart Jenkins, as well as one of his "biggest critics and supporters", his father Terry Ginnane.

"I've learnt a lot from Terry - or dad I should probably say - and he provides a lot of feedback to me," Mr Ginnane said.

"He's probably been a bit harsher on me being his son than maybe he would be with someone else, but his advice and tailored instructions have helped me a lot.

"Particularly early on, he taught me to not go as hard and fly out of the blocks and told me to rein it in and chill out I suppose." .

The runner up was 22-year-old Harrison Cozens, Elders Rural Services, Albury, NSW, who was the last of the 10 auctioneers to sell cattle through the ring at the Victorian Livestock Exchange.

"Everyone did exceptionally well,"Mr Cozens said.

"I think I stayed composed and direct in what I was selling and I thought my values of the prime cattle I was selling was pretty spot on."

Mr Cozens is also responsible for selling prime cattle at his local saleyard, the Northern Victoria Livestock Exchange, near Wodonga, on a weekly basis, so the opportunity to sell cattle in southern Victoria was uncommon.

"Most of the buyers were very similar but the biggest difference I found was selling through the ring, as opposed to on the rail, which a lot of us are not used to," he said.

"The cattle were fairly similar compared to what we sell at home and they had been fed on grain, but there was a lot of variance in the cattle in terms of weights, grades, condition and breeds, so it was important you did have your values spot on."

Mr Cozens started in Elders Traineeship Program three years ago and was initially posted into the New England, NSW, region with Elders manager Richard Gleeson.

"I went back to Hamilton in the summer of 2020 and Craig Pertzel was someone who backed me at a young age and he was an extremely good mentor to me," Mr Cozens said.

"I then moved onto Albury and Brett Shea has been amazing and probably taken me to another level which has helped me poll second.

"One of the biggest benefits as an auctioneer is the reward of being able to sell clients' cattle and to have that control and privilege to do it is a very satisfying feeling."

Both Mr Ginnane and Mr Cozens will compete for the national young auctioneer title at the Sydney Royal Easter Show in 2023.

ALPA chief executive Peter Baldwin said it was the most competitive Victorian Young Auctioneers Competition ALPA had held to date.

"That's testament to the calibre of young fellows and the progress they've made in their careers.

"We had so many different levels of experience, they come from different areas, some are selling more sheep than they are cattle but it's testament to the education and development programs they're doing.

Coles and meat buyer JBS went head-to-head during the competition to raise money for Australian charity Dolly's Dream.

A charity steer donated by David Gillett, Jalna Feedlot, Anakie, in conjunction with Elders was sold for $8750.

The steer was purchased by Stephen Rennie, Coles, while JBS buyer Jason Ronalds also supported the cause as the under bidder.

The charity aims to raise awareness about the devastating effects of bullying, and in the past 12 months, more than $110,000 has been raised by ALPA for the organisation.

Among the other buyers was South Gippslander Anthony Hullick, Keswick, and Yarragon-based Ron Goff who bought the dearest steer of the sale for 580 cents a kilogram on behalf of Radford's Warragul.