The assessors and their teams with the highest throughput on AuctionsPlus have been named, with the announcement of the AuctionsPlus Awards for the 2023 financial year.

With over $3.2 billion worth of livestock transacted on AuctionsPlus each year, it’s no small feat to claim an AuctionsPlus Award, which recognises the assessors and agencies with the highest throughput across cattle, sheep and lambs on the platform during the last financial year.

In presenting the awards, the AuctionsPlus team would like to extend their thanks to all assessors, agents and agency staff who supported AuctionsPlus this year, as well as acknowledge the support of RB Sellars towards the FY23 awards program.

Read on to meet our top assessors and get their thoughts on where the industry is headed.

Geoff Rice_1.1

I feel quite humbled to be this year’s recipient of the award. I knew Howard and how committed he was to the livestock and agricultural industry, and to win this award makes me feel I must be on the right track.

I see agency as a role that puts you in a position that is trusted by your clients to do your absolute best and make sure we have as much information as possible to help them make an informed decision.

A highlight of the past 12 months is difficult due to our changing markets, but I would say the close relationships with many of my clients built over the past 18 years and how they have trusted me in a tough market to do the right job. It doesn’t make the tougher prices easier to take, but they know you have definitely done your best.

As our markets have changed/ eased, I have had many clients ask about changing or chasing a market. Now is not the time to make a major enterprise change, as our markets are very fluid and being affected by so many factors. Rather than changing, ensure you producing the best product from your current production system. This ensures in a tough market you achieve any premium that is about.

I am not sure if there is any particular question that I would like my clients to be asking - as long as they continue to ask questions of us and we continue to find them answers, as all farm businesses are different and with different enterprises and goals.

Climate change is definitely a huge issue facing agriculture, but as producers we have been dealing with floods and droughts for decades. Farm succession planning is seeing more and more family farms being consumed by corporates and larger neighbours that are pushing up land values, making it harder for a family member to buy out siblings and making sale the easier option.

AWN Squires team_1

I am thrilled that our business has received the award through AuctionsPlus, as this is a great team effort. I am equally thrilled and proud of Tom’s individual effort to receive the award for an individual agent.

As a business, we endeavour to seek the best possible outcome for all our clients through marketing.

We are excited for the future with our new merger with AWN Livestock. We all need to work together to ensure a profitable future for clients, given present market instability.

Elders Hay_1.1

It’s something we didn’t expect and we’re really honoured to be able to accept the award. We’re stoked to be recognised, but moreso, we want to thank our clients for allowing us to do business with them.

Being honest and open at all times with your clients.

We were able to run our own feeder lamb sale on AuctionsPlus, which we then backed up with our own ewe sale. I thought that was a great achievement and to get the results we got there for our clients, I thought it was an exceptional way to do business.

It’s a very tough situation with the market currently. The market is going to be what the market is going to be, but if we can prepare our stock and present them for sale as best we can, the results will come from there.

We’re pretty open and honest in our communication with our clients, so we’re always keen for them to ask us anything. It’s all about maintaining communication and being open with it all the way through.

The biggest challenge is likely the supply bottleneck we’ve got from a processor perspective, and staffing. It’s difficult to get livestock processors and that has flow-on effects through the market. However, the global protein market is pretty tough as well – so there’s a few challenges out there that we’re facing and that’s probably what we’re seeing in the markets now. We’re just going to have to work through these issues day by day.

Elders Kingston_1.1

It is a great privilege to receive this A+ award. Our clients who supported us when marketing their livestock on A+ must also be commended for their trust and support on this great platform.

Integrity and communication with all parties.

Supporting your customers’ decision to market livestock when they are ready to go in a retracting market.

Forward booking space for sale stock this coming season. Staff shortages across all sectors within the livestock industry, for example farm workers, truck drivers, meatworks staff, and supply chains.

Thomas Oakes_1.1

It’s a real privilege and I’m very proud of it. I know there’s a lot of very good agents and assessors throughout the country that use AuctionsPlus, so I’m humbled to have achieved this.

I’d like to give a big thank you to my clients for trusting us with their stock – we really appreciate their business and the relationship we have with them. I’d also really like to thank Melissa and Jillian at AWN Squires for all their hard work – they do a great job and often work to tight deadlines. Thanks also goes to our buyers, for supporting us as well.

I think being extremely honest and true to the client. I look at everyone’s stock like they’re my own, thinking about how I would assess them or present them to get the best out of them.

There’s been plenty of times that a client achieves a result way better than initial expectations and hearing their excitement and happiness in their voices is a great feeling.

Most clients know their enterprise better than anyone, so when they make a plan they need to trust themselves and stick to it, rather than worry about what the media are saying.

I think it’s great if they want to ask what opportunities are out there – because certainly some of the values have gone down, but there’s still plenty of opportunity to move forward. There’s a lot of good value stock to replace with.

Keeping people proactive with trading or breeding, because a lot of people didn’t think the market correction would happen. There’s plenty of value still there to go forward.

The other main issue is around processors - they just don’t have the staff to get through the throughput. If we could get them keeping up with the demand, the values could stay pretty honest.

Geoff McDougall_1.1

It’s a show of gratitude for the hard work that the whole team has done for the past 12 months, so I really appreciate it.

As long as you’re honest and upfront, and you’re up to date with the latest market information, I think that’s a big help.

Over the past 12 months we’ve seen really good prices so that has been the best part – to see our clients rewarded for what they’ve produced. I think the next 12 months is going to be a tough 12 months, so it was nice we had a good run last year.

My clients are always interested in knowing what things are worth and why. I always make sure I’ve done my research and give my clients an honest answer to any question they ask.

The biggest problem is the state of our global economies, with many countries going through recession after COVID. Economic issues have affected everyone and every economy that buys our product.

RB Sellars logo

With thanks to RB Sellars, our valued partner

RB Sellars has been outfitting hard-working Aussies who share a passion for the land since 1996. The brand started life as a small catalogue business with the simple idea of a hard-wearing, well-crafted workshirt in a range of colours. The now iconic Burton workshirt has since become the Australian country uniform. The range now includes functional and hard-wearing workwear for both men and women, plus a large collection of casual wear, farm wear and a teen and kids range. RB Sellars was born in country Victoria and remains 100% Australian owned.

The Box Weekly

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Top AuctionsPlus assessors named

With thanks to RB Sellars, our valued partner

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