Spence Dix & Co Keith claims Top Throughput Sheep Agency for second year running

Spence Dix & Co, Keith, has been named Top Throughput Sheep Agency for FY26, retaining the title for a second consecutive year after its seven sheep assessors completed 376 assessments across 94,118 head of sheep.It is the fourth AuctionsPlus Award for the agency, adding to its 2024 Top Throughput Sheep Agency win, a Top Throughput Combined Livestock Agency award, and a Top Throughput Sheep Assessor title for Greg Downing in 2024. 

AuctionsPlus CEO Wyn Snyman congratulated the team on the back-to-back win.

"Congratulations to the team at Spence Dix & Co Keith on backing up with another win in FY26," Mr Snyman said. "Two years running at the top is no fluke, it's a genuine benchmark for the network. Let's see if they can make it three in a row."

Director Jonathan Spence said the result reflected the strength of the wider team rather than any one individual.

"We have a great team, and a number of those are shareholders in the business," Mr Spence said. "Our team is pretty diverse, but also it is still pretty much like a family business, so there's a great deal of support for each other."

The agency runs 17 salespeople from an operation that started with just four when it was established in 2009. Its footprint now stretches across most of South Australia, including Kangaroo Island, the Fleurieu Peninsula, the Barossa, the Murraylands, the south-east, the Adelaide Plains, the mid north and parts of the northern pastoral region.

"We have a really good mix, with some guys that have only been in agency for the past two years, and others that have spent 30 years," Mr Spence said.

That geographic spread has become one of the agency's biggest strengths on AuctionsPlus, particularly for clients on Kangaroo Island, where it can be complicated to access mainland saleyards.

"AuctionsPlus is very popular with the client base over there as well," Mr Spence said. 

"The clients want the advantage of selling at auction before they leave the farm gate," he said.

Encouraging accreditation across the team has been a deliberate focus for the agency, with three staff completing their cattle assessor tickets in Bendigo the same week this interview took place.

"We encourage everyone to have a good understanding of the platform and also to be a qualified assessor, so that it's certainly a marketing option that they can easily offer to their clients," Mr Spence said.

Having used AuctionsPlus for two decades, Mr Spence has watched the platform shift from a novelty to an everyday tool.

"Back in those days, if a client wanted to see stock sold, quite often they'd come into the branch, and we'd sit round and get the cakes out and a cup of tea, and they'd watch this sort of space age thing," he said. "Now there's the same guys, 20 years older, and they're doing it on their phones whilst in their tractor or sitting in the shearing shed."

He said the platform had become easier to use and more mobile over that time, alongside tighter oversight of the assessment process itself.

"There's more integrity in the whole system now, in that there's a few more checks and balances on the assessment, which is a great positive," Mr Spence said.

With conditions across the agency's patch turning around after a run of dry seasons, Mr Spence said the outlook was among the best he had seen.

AuctionsPlus Awards FY26 Winners:

Top Throughput Cattle Assessor: Darryl Napper

Top Throughput Sheep Assessor: Kelvin Donnan

Top Throughput Cattle Agency and Top Throughput Combined Livestock Agency: Davidson Cameron & Co

Top Throughput Sheep Agency: Spence Dix & Co Keith

Top Throughput Machinery Agency: Phillips Livestock & Auctions

Howard Gardner Award: Trevor Basset

Gary Dick Award: James Tierney

Young Gun Award: Charlie Bible

Industry Woman of the Year: Sam Platts

Machinery Excellence Award: Angus Newcombe