Tom Rookyard, AuctionsPlus Market Insights, 2 December 2019
David Welsh and Dale Boyd of Landmark Assessing Lambs
As the many landscapes of agriculture in Australia evolve from year to year, so does the manner in which industry participants choose to engage. From previous years of weekly updates arriving in the mailbox, today’s technology has the ability to instantly connect vastly remote places across the globe. From a livestock perspective, while online sales have removed the geographic barriers that once existed between buyers and sellers, the ability to connect socially through livestock sales is still a crucial component for rural communities.
In recognising the need for community engagement and interaction, in an age of increasing online activity, David Welsh and Colin Broughton, from Landmark Benalla and Landmark Euroa, respectively, have ensured a social component features as a crucial part of their annual online AuctionsPlus lamb sale.
The Annual North East Victorian Lamb, Backgrounder and Finisher Sale opens at 11:30am on Tuesday 3rd December with 14,000 store lambs to be offered.
The Annual North East Victorian Lamb, Backgrounder and Finisher Sale run by David and Colin, has been running online on AuctionsPlus for 15 years now. ‘I felt that we could market the lambs, the clients and our district a lot better’ David explains, with somewhere in the vicinity of 200,000 lambs assessed, offered and sold in the sale over the 15 years.
However, for David and Colin, a social aspect is an important focus for each sale. ‘We used to all have the social outing at the sale yards but that’s not how we are conducting business as much, but it’s still crucial growers have the opportunity to share ideas and talk but it’s just in a different setting’
For the past few years David and Col run an event, inviting their clients to get together at the local pub and watch the sale together over lunch. ‘To be able to gather our clients together and all get off farm is extremely important, from a grower working together on a collaborative perspective and a community perspective is critical’. ‘It was great that we can have the whole family at the event, saleyards are open for anyone but traditionally only the husband attends. In 2018, we had both decisions makers in the business, the husband’s and wife’s attending…which made for some interesting discussions’’
According to David, developing long term relationships and repeat buyers is the key to a good sale outcome, ‘most of these repeat buyers wouldn’t be able to travel to the local yards to compete on these lambs, with many of them interstate’. ‘Hardly anyone was using AuctionsPlus from the area back in 2004, but I wanted to open up our clients to a far greater buying audience’.
Colin remembers the opportunity that was presented with the number of lambs their vendors could offer. ‘We had basically 3 or 4 vendors that could put together close to 10,000 lambs, and the opportunity to reduce any stress on the lambs all made sense’.
Alan and Janine Neander, ‘Spenague’, from Benalla, Victoria, who run First Cross ewe’s joined to Poll Dorset rams, have also listed in the Annual North East Victorian Lamb Sale since its inception. ‘The Dec sale on AuctionsPlus gives us control to set our reserve so we know what we will receive before the stock have left the property and it’s just a really convenient way to sell’
Alan has been involved in the Annual North East Victorian Lamb Sale for at least 10 years now, ‘David probably suggested the sale to us, we had been selling cattle through AuctionsPlus or years ago as CALM, and it just fitted in with our Spring lambing for our Crossbred ewes’
Alan Neander has also had consistent results from interstate buyers, ‘There’s been repeat buyers from Southern NSW on the Murray, and also we have had croppers putting them out on stubble out at Forbes’. ‘Lamb prices for the last few years have been fantastic, lambs at 4-months old making $130-$140/head, if you have to purchase feed to take them through to heavier weights the margins are much slimmer’.
Alan states that, ‘selling them as store’s, I can then run my ewes as dry ewes until pregnancy and get them back up to weight for joining again’.
John Harrison from Warrenbayne South East of Benalla, has listed in The Annual North East Victorian Lamb, Backgrounder and Finisher Sale since the very first sale. At this point John was transitioning over to a breeding store lambs.
‘My country wasn’t going to finish lambs, but it was a great place to breed lambs, September, October, November is ideal for rearing lambs, but once the Summer dry comes in they need to go, so to have a December sale we can target is perfect’
John run ‘s First Cross ewes which lamb Second Cross Poll Dorset lambs in August, and is looking forward to another sale, with a solid season behind him. ‘In terms of rainfall we are probably half our average, but in terms of feed the season would be as good as any, we have just had rain at the right time’
John has had plenty of interstate action on his stock, ‘Early day’s a lot went to Ballarat, but now they could head anywhere, plenty of stock to feedlots into Central and Southern NSW and also in South Australia’.
The Annual North East Victorian Lamb, Backgrounder and Finisher Sale opens at 11:30am on Tuesday 3rd December with 14,000 store lambs to be offered.
David Welsh and Colin Broughton From Landmark assessing John Harrison’s Lambs
Landmark Euroa's Jack Jones doing a parallel assessment with the help of vendor Jack Broughton