A recent column mentioned that Paul Besgrove had joined forces with Hardwicks from Victoria to become its resident sheep buyer for most parts of NSW and elsewhere as required.
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Paul was a livestock agent for some 23 years, initially with Pastoral House seeing clients at Warren, Nyngan and Forbes.
My first real contact with Paul was when he joined the successful private agency Milling Stuart & Co. at Dunedoo.
He then spent five years with Mike Gordan, the boss of Baidan Pastoral Co Brisbane, who as I understand won the contract from the Qatar government to set up Hassad Australia, which was itsd arm for rural agriculture investment in Australia.
Paul’s role Hassad was livestock and property operations manager which saw him responsible for the sale and purchase of all livestock and property for the mother ship.
Markets for all types of livestock are somewhat in free fall across the eastern states as we return to a full-on selling programme for 2018.
Some parts of NSW such as the Hunter Valley are in dire straits and no doubt there are many other areas in a similar situation.
Many selling centres are seeing record-breaking numbers as producers unload all but their core breeding stock, depending on who you talk to.
Scone has been yarding 500 to 900 well-bred local calves on a regular basis in recent weeks.
While the market is certainly softening it still remains at historically very high levels.
The best of heavy export lambs still make $200 plus and the pick of feeder steers returns $300/kg or better.
Processing cattle such as prime steers, bullocks, cows and bulls appear to be the most affected at this point with some big players only just now returning to work.
At a time when recruiting young staff to the agency industry is proving to be difficult, Peter Milling & Co. Dubbo appears to have enticed a good young man to their ranks.
We refer to Cameron Finemore, who has a rural background having been raised on the family farm between Mendooran and Tooraweenah.
For the last two to three years he has worked for the Egelabra Stud at Warren and the Gadsby family at Gular.
We wish Cameron a long and enjoyable career in one of the best roles in the rural industry.
Speaking of Peter Milling & Co. my thanks to Bruce Bryant from the Wellington office for a comprehensive report on the most recent Narromine store sheep sale, where some 13,000 head were on offer.
Quotes include: 1st cross ewes, March/April drop, Sept/Oct shorn $234 to $278. Other good lines of young 1st cross Ewes $194 to $228.
Merino ewes, June/July 2016 drop, MLSD, Oct shorn, NSM sold for $202. The year older sold for the same money. Merino ewes rising five years, Aug shorn, scanned 100 per cent in lamb to White Suffolk Rams made $198.
Successful buyers came from Cowra, Binnaway, Peak Hill, Narrandera, Orange, Trangie and Forbes.
