Best young agents and auctioneers: Lincoln McKinlay, Sarah Packer
‘It doesn’t feel like a job’: Meet some of the young women making waves as livestock auctioneers.
These young agents and auctioneers are some of the best in the business.
As part of their day jobs they sell livestock worth thousands and tens-of-thousands of dollars. And they all have one similar thing in common — they do it because they love the diversity in their day-to-day and the people they work for.
See why they are some of the best.
LINCOLN MCKINLAY, ELDERS STUD STOCK, INVERELL, NSW
Lincoln McKinlay is undoubtedly one of the best auctioneers in Australia — among the young and the more experienced.
He won the Australian Livestock and Property Agents Association National Young Auctioneers Competition in 2017, representing his home state of Queensland, and then went to compete with the best in the world at the Calgary Stampede where he won the International Livestock Auctioneer Championship Rookie of the Year title.
Lincoln, who is now 27, started his career in 2012 with Cyril Close at TopX in Roma, Queensland. He then moved to Longreach, Richmond and Rockhampton, before moving south to work with Ray White GTSM at Albury.
Now based with the Elders stud stock team at Inverell, Lincoln’s skill and love for his job, has meant he has sold thoroughbreds at the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast, worked with world champion auctioneers in the US, and sold some of the best sheep and cattle in the country.
“It’s a bit cliche but the people we get to deal with is the best part of the job,” Lincoln told The Weekly Times.
He said to pinpoint why he loves auctioneering was hard.
“When you are auctioneering, you have three years, and more, worth of hard work, blood sweat and tears from your client in your hands and you have 45 seconds to a minute to get the best result possible for that client, it’s pretty rewarding.”
Lincoln said winning Calgary and attending auctioneer college in the US were “unreal experiences”.
“It was so mind-broadening, there’s so much more to what we do as auctioneers than what people think, and even what I thought, and to be involved with world champion auctioneers was an amazing experience.”
SARAH PACKER, TOPX, ROMA, QUEENSLAND
Since she started on her career path, Sarah Packer has been breaking through the glass ceiling.
She started with TopX in Roma in 2015 and in 2017 became the first female to compete in the Queensland Young Auctioneers Competition.
And in 2020 Sarah became the first female auctioneer in Queensland (and possibly Australia) to sell stud stock at the Dangarfield Santa Gertrudis bull sale.
Sarah said she was “very proud” of both achievements.
The 29-year-old said she always knew she wanted to be involved in agriculture “and it was a role that would push me out of my comfort zone and challenge me”.
“I love that it doesn’t feel like a job. There’s a great deal of enjoyment working with people you have a lot of respect for and can learn something from. And the diversity means your never doing the same thing everyday, cattle, goats or sheep,” Sarah said.
When it comes to gender, Sarah said she preferred not to focus on it.
“I’ve definitely been very fortunate but that has come down to my upbringing. It didn’t matter what gender you were, if you wanted to do the job you had to focus on that and get in and get the job done.”
“There are certainly some disadvantages to females auctioneering in the way that we have to train our voices slightly different, but if you have the right assistance and guidance there’s no stopping with a bit of practise.”
“I think it’s important to not focus on what you think other people’s perceptions are and get in and get the job done. People respect good work ethic and if respect isn’t getting reciprocated maybe they just aren’t worth your time.”
JACK GINNANE, NUTRIEN SOUTH GIPPSLAND LIVESTOCK, LEONGATHA, VICTORIA
Only four months after he started auctioneering, Gippsland agent Jack Ginnane won the 2020 ALPA Victoria Young Auctioneers Competition.
The 24-year-old then competed at the national ALPA Young Auctioneers Competition at Sydney Royal last year and while he didn’t go home an individual winner, he was a team member of the annual NAB Agribusiness Team Shield — the shield goes to the state with the highest combined score.
Jack started auctioneering cattle after he was thrown in to have a go with no warning.
He has been an agent for about six years but knew from a young age he wanted to be involved in the industry after he followed his father, Terry Ginnane — a well-known agent — around whenever he could.
LIAM KIRKWOOD, RAY WHITE RURAL AND LIVESTOCK, TOWNSVILLE, QUEENSLAND
In 2020, at just 23-years-old, Liam Kirkwood stepped up to the helm as the new principal of Ray White Townsville Rural and Livestock.
Now at 25, he is still one of the youngest principals in Australia and continues to drive the business forward.
“The opportunity came up when the previous principal was going to retire, so it was either take it on then or wait for another opportunity and it has worked out well,” Liam said.
“They say from risk comes reward, and that has certainly been true in my case.”
Liam won the ALPA Queensland Young Auctioneers competition at the Royal Brisbane Show in 2019, and then continued with that success, winning the 2021 ALPA National Young Auctioneer competition.
He said he wanted to better his skills as an auctioneer as clients placed a “lot of trust” in agents to sell their livestock.
“If you can auctioneer as well as being an agent, you can have a lot of control of selling someone’s cattle and it shows you are serious about following through with how they sell.”
He has been an agent since January 2019 and prior to that was a livestock buyer.
Liam said he loves that no one day is the same.
“I get a lot of satisfaction out of doing good business with good people and enjoy the networking side, keeping in touch with buyers and sellers from the Northern Territory right down to Victoria.”
ANTHONY O’DWYER, GDL, DALBY, QUEENSLAND
At 28-years-old Anthony O’Dwyer has been an agent and auctioneer for almost 11 years.
He claimed the top young auctioneers prize in 2019, taking out the ALPA National Young Auctioneers Competition in Sydney.
He then went on to represent Australia in the International Livestock Auctioneers Competition at the Calgary Stampede in Canada.
“I’ve been passionate about working in livestock for as long as I can remember,” Anthony said.
Working at the saleyards while he was at the Dalby Ag College, Anthony said a role with GDL came up, so he applied.
“I love all of the job, that every day is different, talking to different people and seeing different areas and all types of cattle,” he said.
Having started his career at GDL and now the livestock manager for GDL in Dalby, Anthony said his advice was to be “loyal” and to “give 100 per cent all of the time”.
KIRSTY TAYLOR, ELDERS, ALBURY, NSW
Kirsty was the first female to sell cattle at the Wangaratta saleyards back in 2017.
But, the 30-year-old said gender shouldn’t be the focus.
“There seems to be more and more females in the industry however not so many becoming stock and station agents. It still requires more hard work and determination from a female to move up the ranks however you don’t want to be recognised as a female within the industry, but more as a good, honest agent,” she said.
When she sold cattle at Wangaratta for the first time, Kirsty spoke to The Weekly Times and said “everyone was supportive” and “as long as I can sell cattle and make the right money for the stock it doesn’t matter”.
Kirsty started her career through the Elders Traineeship Program and has moved up to her role as territory sales manager based in Albury, NSW.
“I really enjoy the agricultural industry and the interaction with clients and advising them in their livestock marketing decisions, while also having control of their sale up on the rail as the auctioneer,” she said.
The diversity in each day was also a top reason why Kirsty loves her role.
Kirsty has also shown off her acrobatic skills in a photo The Weekly Times shot back in 2015.
JOSH MCDONALD, NUTRIEN, WARRNAMBOOL, VICTORIA
Another budding auctioneer, Josh McDonald won the 2021 ALPA Victoria Young Auctioneers Competition.
At 24-years-old, Josh has worked for Nutrien for six years and is now the Mortlake livestock manager and auctioneer.
Josh said his grandfather, Noel Saffin — who was a well-respected agent — inspired him to want to do the same.
“Over school holidays from a young age I went with him and just fell in love with the industry and job. Then it just progressed into a full time job and then I started selling,” Josh said.
“I was always interested in the auctioneering side of the job and when going to the yards as a kid with Pa, I was intrigued by the auctioneer and their role within the yards.”
He said the best part of the job was all of it.
“Working with people and livestock, getting high prices and achieving good results, working outdoors and no two days being the same.”
Josh will compete in this year’s national young auctioneers competition, to be held in April at the Sydney Royal.
In preparation for the national finals, Josh said he likes to keep things simple.
“That probably follows through to how I sell. I’m also very fortunate to have a lot of support from my mentors and colleagues,” he said.
And his best piece of advice for auctioneering?
“Take a breath, stand up straight and sell them.”
GEORGIA GORHAM, NUTRIEN, POWRANNA, TASMANIA
Georgia Gorham is believed to the first female in Tasmania to auctioneer livestock in that state.
Working for Nutrien, Georgia sells each week at the Tasmania Livestock Exchange and has known since she was a teenager what she wanted to do.
Georgia grew up in Darwin in the Northern Territory and her interest was piqued after driving past the live export yards every day on the way to school.
“When I was 15, I started a work ready program with a company in Darwin. I would attend school three days a week and then spend the rest of the week at the yards which would often involve early starts and long days working with up to 11,000 head of cattle. I was the only woman out on site which definitely had its challenges, but I loved it and I quickly grew a strong connection with and understanding of the animals.”
Working at a live export facility, then becoming an accountant, Georgia made her way into being an agent by applying for roles interstate.
While she said being female and the perceived disadvantages of that came up time and time again in interviews, she finally found the right role with Roberts Livestock in Tasmania (now part of Nutrien).
“During the interview they asked questions about my skills and experience — they didn’t care about my gender, and that’s when I knew I was in with a good and fair chance.”
“It’s great to see more women in roles that have stereotypically been held by men. We’ve still got a way to go, but the dial is shifting on gender inequalities in the industry. My advice to other young women considering a career in agriculture is to be persistent and don’t give up.”
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