Katie Lewis wins top cattle throughput award for second year

For the second year running, Corcoran Parker's Katie Lewis has been recognised by AuctionsPlus as the assessor with the highest cattle throughput – an achievement she says came as a complete surprise.

“I was pretty stoked when I got the call,” Miss Lewis said. “I don’t count how many numbers I’m putting up, or how many lots or anything. Some weeks are really busy, but I’m not counting the numbers. I’m just going, yep, I’ll get them done, where am I going to fit them in? So when (AuctionsPlus Chief Executive Officer) Wyn Snyman rang me, it was a complete shock.”

In total, she listed 8,751 head this year, a sharp jump from about 6,000 the previous year. The big driver behind that lift was spring, when a wave of younger calves came onto the market in North East Victoria where she is located.

“Spring was a massive, massive time for us,” she explained. “I was putting up a lot of calves that were spring drop from the year before, the 14–15 month feeders that would usually be sold a bit later."

In autumn, the northern regions started to see more promising conditions, prompting a surge in AuctionsPlus activity.

“Once the guys in the North had a good break in their season, they jumped. So then we just kept lining the cattle up in front of them and that was really good for us,” she said.

Miss Lewis was also travelling long distances to assess agisted livestock to get the best results for clients.

The alternative of moving cattle through nearby saleyards where they didn't have a presence or bringing them back down south to their home saleyards was less efficient and gave less control over outcomes.

"I travelled to the stock, put them on AuctionsPlus, we still had control of the sale. That’s the big one, that’s the main thing for us.”

Katie Lewis with her daughter Lottie.

Motherhood

Adding to the significance of this year’s award was the fact Miss Lewis achieved it while pregnant with her first child, daughter Lottie, born in July.

“I remember thinking to myself, wouldn’t it be cool to snag the top assessor again and have a baby – to be like, look, women can still be up there rubbing shoulders with the boys and be raising a family and have tea on the table,” Miss Lewis said. “Anytime the banner for women in ag gets flown, I just love it.”

She worked right up until mid-June, with her final AuctionsPlus assessment on June 10, stepping back only in the final weeks before Lottie arrived. Despite a tough pregnancy marked by fatigue and preeclampsia, Katie said motherhood has come naturally.

“I really have taken to motherhood like a hand to a glove,” she said. “I’m soaking up every drop of it. I’ll be back assessing next year, but not to the extent I previously have been.”

Mentors

When asked to narrow down her biggest role model, Miss Lewis doesn’t hesitate to name her mum Mandy Lewis.

“My mum is just amazing,” she said. “She came out from the UK when she was 26, freshly married, and she’s the epitome of everything I’m talking about. She keeps the garden looking a picture, has dinner on the table every night, raised two kids, runs the bookwork for the business and then still finds time to help me with the cattle on the weekend. She’ll even jump in a tractor and drive the chaser bin if needed.”

She often wonders how her mum manages it all. "She really is incredible. I’ll never be anywhere near as unreal as my mum, she’s absolutely amazing.”

Miss Lewis is also quick to credit her mentor, Corcoran Parker Livestock Manager Dave Meehan, for setting her on her career path.

“I have Dave Meehan to thank, he’s been my main mentor, and he’s the one that started me off assessing,” she said. “He was the engine behind it that said, ‘we need to get this girl accredited, and we need to get her assessing our cattle’. He really pushed for me to do the bulk of our assessments and have that as my key focus.”

Miss Lewis added that his influence reaches well beyond her own career. “Dave’s been a sensational mentor, not just to me but to all the young people coming up through the system. He’s a fantastic mentor — sort of like Uncle Dave to everyone.”

Katie Lewis taking photos for an AuctionsPlus assessment. 

Methods

Miss Lewis says one of the biggest game changers in her workload has been using LiveAssess at the crush.

“Using LiveAssess just takes the bulk of the data entry as far as the weights go, that is a huge time saver,” she said.

“The great thing about LiveAssess is you’ve just assessed the cattle, the last one’s gone through, and they say, ‘what did they average?’ and bang, you’ve got it there. You’re not sitting there adding it up, especially if you’ve just done quite a few. You can tell people exactly what they’ve averaged then and there.”

She also points out that LiveAssess reduces data entry mistakes. “Particularly for those big lots, it’s awesome because you don’t have those mistakes. It’s always important to check your weights once you’ve typed them in, but if you’re doing it at the crush you’re looking at the animal, you’re not just trying to zap through it and get them all entered.”

For Miss Lewis, the advantage is not only accuracy but also confidence in pricing. “You can give a more accurate idea of the value of the stock then and there. You can still do your research later, but at least you can give a more accurate ballpark figure by having the actual average weight then and there.”

Beyond weights, Miss Lewis said quality assessments come down to detail in the description, especially around breeding, management and temperament.

“It’s so important to highlight in your comments where the money is invested,” she explained. “Ask clients what attributes they’re targeting when they select sires. If they’ve spent $20,000 on a bull, drop that in. If they’ve given calves a vaccine, mention it. That shows the management and effort that’s gone in.”

Vendors are increasingly pushing for this detail because it translates to stronger competition online.

“That’s what separates AuctionsPlus from a store sale. On a store sale you’ve got a piece of paper that might just says the bloodline. On AuctionsPlus you’ve got 250 characters in the extended breed description, use them to show what’s been invested.”

The same applies to temperament. “I always go into as much detail as possible in the temperament comment, because temperament can be the sticky one,” she said. “Weaners can be the quietest things ever, but like kids hopping on a school bus for the first time, it’s a big change for them … I always try to add as much detail as I can so buyers know what to expect.”

For Miss Lewis, the principle is simple: “I always make sure to treat them if they were my cattle, and how I would want them marketed."