About 8500 cattle will grace the Elders Mountain Calf Sales next week, where pink shirts will line the saleyards at Omeo and Benambra, ably led by Elders Bairnsdale’s Morgan Davies.
Morgan is also the main auctioneer and organiser of the two-day event, which attracts hundreds of buyers from across eastern Australia.
“The Hereford calves are renowned as the best and I certainly believe that,” Morgan said.
“The black spring weaners also look a picture.
“It makes our jobs easier with cattle that look so good.”
He said selling that many cattle in any selling centre, let alone in four sales, over two days and three saleyards, was no mean organisational feat.
“We concentrate on the business transaction of cattle being presented correctly and that they go to the right homes.
“The mystique of the mountain sales is unique, there is nowhere else like Omeo, Benambra and Ensay.”
Morgan has attended the Mountain Calf Sales every year, as Elders send a lot of their young people to work at the sales.
“I like the camaraderie of it all up there, we probably have about 35 people around us, 10 good auctioneers, 10 good cattle drafters and plenty of people on gates.
“We’re also bound by the weather in that region.
“We’ve had flooding rains, we’ve had sales cancelled because of fires, or sold when there are fires not too far away.
“The challenges are pretty extreme, but everyone just embraces it and we pull together.”
Morgan started with Elders at freshly 18, straight out of year 12 and into the trainee program.
He spent time in Korumburra, Swan Hill, Broken Hill and Albury until the opportunity came up to go back to Gippsland.
“I had no intentions of working in Bairnsdale,” Morgan said.
“I was thinking more like the Koonwarra area, I was pretty young.
“But there was a management change at Bairnsdale and I took on the livestock manager role when I was 21.”
“It’s a great industry to be in and a great career,” he said.
“I was lucky enough to learn from some great stock agents and people, like Peter MacCallum and Ian Parker, they let me take the lead which was really uncommon.
“We built a substantial business, but I needed their support to get there.”
He also lists agents like Brad Obst and David Hill as people he has learnt and developed a skill set from.
As an auctioneer, Morgan opens the Mountain Calf Sales, and other large sales like the Yea weaner sales but he didn’t begin with that career aspiration.
“I didn’t have my heart set on being an auctioneer, I was more about growing the business and our clientele, but I had to take on the role and be more serious.
Morgan entered the National Young Auctioneers competition in 2011 and ran second.
“It was a good learning curve, auctioneering is all part of the job,” he said.
“I really enjoy it now.”
Morgan grew up in Foster where his father owned the local butcher shop and a family farming operation which split, allowing Morgan to also work with his uncle and his cattle.
He married Lindenow girl Jess Bulmer in 2012 and the couple has three children, Stella, 11, Pat, eight, and Heath, five.
Now 38, Morgan says his agent career hasn’t been without its challenges.
Recently Morgan has taken on the Gippsland livestock manager role and has almost immediately had to deal with the closure of the Victorian Livestock Exchange in Pakenham, and deal with the 20 staff from that office.
“Urban growth just defeated it,” Morgan said.
While he admits he’s not delicate with words, Morgan’s motto is ‘Trust is your currency’ and he pays special attention to his clients and the marketing of their cattle.
The Elders Mountain Calf Sales take place next Tuesday and Wednesday, March 5-6.
The first Elders sale begins at Omeo on Tuesday at 12pm with a black cattle yarding, followed by the sale at Benambra at 3pm.
The following day the sales begin at Ensay at 10am, returning to Omeo for the final sale at 1pm.
The Bairnsdale calf sale takes place the following Friday, March 15.
