By Russell Bennett
Anthony Delaney was just 14 when he was doing work experience with Elders as a trainee, and just a few short years later he spent three years away working in Albury Wodonga, Corowa, Hamilton, Warrnambool, Mount Gambier, Shepparton, Euroa, and Yea.
His time in agribusiness has been one hell of a whirlwind, and just last week marked nine years for him at Rodwells, which operates business units across they key areas of livestock, wool, rural supplies, insurance, finance, water trading, grain marketing, and real estate.
“Since then we’ve grown into a very family-friendly business that we’re proud of,” Anthony said since starting his journey at Rodwells.
“We’ve got a great crew around us and it’s going well.”
Anthony is the branch manager that oversees the business at the Victorian Livestock Exchange in Pakenham, and he’s also a senior auctioneer and livestock agent – selling everywhere from Pakenham to Leongatha, Yea, Sale, Heyfield, Euroa and Wodonga.
He’s constantly on the road. His week starts in Pakenham, but by the end the local product could end up anywhere.
Anthony is also involved with Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers doing machinery and industrial auctioneering.
“That’s where we conduct sales in Geelong, Brisbane, right throughout Australia, Dubai, Japan – those sorts of places. It’s pretty interesting stuff,” he said.
‘Pretty interesting stuff’ is putting it mildly. The married father of two young kids is always on the go, and earlier this year headed to the Calgary Stampede – an annual rodeo, exhibition and festival held every July in Calgary, in Alberta, Canada.
He’d competed over there before, representing Australia in 2010, but this year he was asked back as the first Australian judge of the competition.
“I was more nervous judging it than I was when I was competing in it!” he said with a smile.
Competitors don’t have a huge say in how everything pans out over there, but it’s a different case entirely as a judge.
“I think there’s a lot more riding on it,” he said.
“When you compete, you represent your country and yourself and your company, but there’s a lot more riding on it when you’re a judge – you’re responsible to a lot more people and their careers.”
As he usually does over there, Anthony had an absolute blast this July.
“It was a great experience,” he said.
“I’m lucky enough to have been to Canada a lot of times, but the people there are amazing, I’ve got great friends over there so you sort of feel like it’s your second home.”
Anthony can see a real synergy between the Australian and Canadian people, particularly through his line of work, but he acknowledged that the concentration required for the North American style of auctioneering over there was particularly ‘nerve wracking’.
Anthony is a local through and through. He lives with his family on the same 70-acre Pakenham South farm where his grandmother used to live.
Over his expansive journey so far, he’s seen plenty of peaks and troughs in the local cattle industry, but he explains that they’re all cyclical.
“Three years ago this place had seen numbers it had never seen before and might never again – they were huge; 3000 every week,” he said from the Rodwells office at the Victorian Livestock Exchange.
“Because cattle got so dear, generally when people normally run 100 steers they’d run 40 or 50 just to keep their risk down.
“The next time around they’d do the same thing, but the price was dearer again so with those cattle now – rather than in our normal selling cycle – we’ll have to keep them for another six or eight months and possibly even in different marketing avenues.
“The auction system is still the price gauge- it sets the mark each week; it’s probably the most proactive way of selling, but some weeks the market can be 10 cents up and some weeks it can be 10 cents cheaper.
“When people have made such a big investment, the marketing at the other end can change because you need to know what you’re going to get so there are a lot of factors.
“Everything runs in cycles, but it’s getting built-up here so what’s next I don’t know. I’m sure something will evolve.
“That’s the main reason for the numbers to be dropping off – it’s no fault of the sale yards, no fault of the industry or anything, it’s just a changing situation.”
The wheel is always turning.
Anthony’s favourite part of his job is the relationships he forms with the people he works with and alongside.
“It’s the return business you receive off clients and the friendships you make,” he explained.
“The business we’ve built and the people who are involved would be one of my favourite parts of it all – that’d be the main part of it I think.”
Anthony said his experience in Canada this year was particularly unique, even in comparison to his other visits there.
“I travel a lot for work but I’m always there and back in a few days and this was the longest stint I’ve had away from my family, so I didn’t enjoy that part too much,” he said.
“It was different going back this time on a different level. This time I was a judge. Every time I’d been over there I’d been training or competing in a competition, so it was a little bit more relaxed and I took a lot more in than I normally do because you’re not worried about just one thing.
“Their industry is in a similar shape to ours. It relies heavily on the US market and it’s just back on the way up after a previous low encounter. They’re like us too – they’ve had a dry, hot summer with big bushfires through British Columbia, so it’s amazing how much the two industries and economies are similar.
“We’re hemispheres apart but you go north here in the outback and there’s only so much of that you can use, and you go north there and you’re in the polar (climate) and it’s the same thing.”
The main challenges that Anthony and his colleagues and clients are dealing with currently in their industry are climatic.
“The main challenge with agency and probably farming in general is all rain, fire and flood,” he said.
“What we’re seeing at the moment is a big dry up north. In this area, the season is going fairly well but when you go north of the divide and north of Albury and so forth it cuts right out really quick.
“All those cattle through New South Wales and western Queensland are all on the market when they shouldn’t be, so that’s what’s keeping our price down here. “Australia is funny – it’s a big country but it’s small in this industry. One little event here has a flow-on effect thousands of kilometres away.
“That’s our biggest challenge and it is a challenge when you can’t control it – you can’t control the weather.”
Anthony said, as an auctioneer, his job is all about respect.
“One of the hardest things in it is that you’re working for the vendor – the people who own the cattle – and you’re working with the purchaser,” he explained.
“You almost have two sets of clients. It’s hard to keep both happy, not that it’s our job to keep the buyer happy. It’s crucial to keep the vendor happy at all costs but I’d like to think that as long as we’ve done all we can do at the time then that’s all anyone could ask.
“It’s respect. There’s got to be respect on all parts. Sometimes it’s trying – you have a tough day and it’s not going your way, but you still have to keep that respect there.”
And respect is exactly what Anthony has earned throughout his career, both locally and abroad.
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