Michael Purtle after winning the natinoal young auctioneers competition.

IT is back to the grind for Australian Young Auctioneer winner Michael Purtle, who is in the middle of auctioning off thousands of sheep and cattle from the increasing dry area of Northern New South Wales.

Winning the competition has been a goal of Michael’s since he was a kid, growing up in Manilla with parents Patrick and Sally Purtle being one half of Purtle Plevey Agencies. Patrick being a well-known auctioneer at the Tamworth, Gunnedah and Dubbo saleyards.

It’s money for jam

He joined his parents’ agency and started competing in the Young Auctioneers program after he finished secondary school, having enjoyed some wins at state level and a runner-up at a national level.

“I went away to boarding school for six years, and I thoroughly enjoyed that, but I knew that university wasn’t for me and talking to people and dealing with people was something that I liked to do – so agency just felt like the right fit.

While he has worked hard on his auctioneering skills over the years, he told The Week in Beef the large numbers of sheep and cattle going through his weekly sales Tamworth, Gunnedah and Dubbo were the final push towards winning the title.

“Having the opportunity to sell plenty of volume before going into Sydney Show, I think put me in good stead,” he said.

Since winning the competition, he has gone straight back into the grind with 6000 and 7000 at Tamworth and Gunnedah respectively.

“It’s just starting to really get tough. I think everybody’s been very proactive since the last dry time in 2018 to 2020. A lot of people have met the decisions head on this time and decided not to feed and sell their weaners early that they would usually take through to feeder weight” he said.

“I still feel like the whole thing is different to 2018 this time around, the market’s still very good so a lot of people are capitalising on that and collecting the cash while they can.

“It’s been absolutely hectic and setting records, but the market’s still good. I think everybody’s just decided, instead of feeding a heap of cows or older cows, collect their cash and wait till it does rain and look for a trade option to go back in.”

More than just a competition

The Australian Livestock and Property Agents Association’s young auctioneer competition is more than just an auctioneering competition at the shows.

It is a significant professional development program that brings agencies together, they leave their colours at the door and focus on mentoring the next generation.

“It’s so valuable,” Mr Purtle said. “And the best thing about it is each state has a couple of different schools a year. We have one in Tamworth at the start of the year, one in Wagga Wagga and then one down in Sydney.

“We are in the north-west and you get to see some of the esteemed auctioneers here. But you also get to go down to Wagga Wagga and get a few pointers out of different auctioneers that I don’t usually see week to week.”

He said being able to learn off the more accomplished auctioneers was “money for jam”.

“You cannot get enough information out of those blokes,” he said.

“You always have to be yourself and be original but you like snippets of different auctioneers, you can adapt that into your own delivery and put your own twist on it.

“That’s what I’ve done. I’ve picked out few decent auctioneers over the time that I really like and try to take a bit of their persona, or the way they do things, and try intertwine it into my delivery.”