Michael Glasser: Wodonga stock agent retires after 35 years
Respected stock agent Michael Glasser reveals why he’s calling it quits at a time when the livestock industry is soaring.
He has spent the past 35 years as a stud stock agent and auctioneer, has travelled to the US on an Angus Australia scholarship, and auctioneered at one of Australia’s most expensive bull sales.
But recently retired Michael Glasser feels the past few years are some of the most iconic for the industry.
Looking back on his 35-year career, the Albury stud stock manager at Ray White Livestock GTSM reckons one of the best parts of the job is the people involved in the livestock industry.
“It’s a very rewarding business if you want to put in, and it’s willing to give back,” Michael says. “It’s basically been my life, one way or another.”
Originally from Queensland, Michael is from a family of horsemen and women, with campdrafting in his blood.
“My family were always exceptional campdrafters. My grandfathers won just about everything … we were always heavily into campdrafting and breeding Australian Stockhorses,” Michael says.
Involved in Poll Herefords and stud horses in Queensland, he moved to Wodonga in 1989, where he’s since spent a career working as an auctioneer and stock agent.
In recent years, he sold his business, Glasser Total Sales Management, to Ray White Rural Livestock, where he continued to work as an auctioneer and agent.
“I enjoy all aspects of the job, whether it’s open cry auctioneering, looking at cattle, sheep and horses, or being involved with the people,” Michael says.
MAGIC MOMENT
Michael says the past two to three years provided “an absolutely iconic moment in the industry”.
“The build-up, the commodity prices, as well as Covid, has pushed people who might not have been interested to engage with online platforms,” he says.
“We wouldn’t have been able to conduct sales without online, and now it’s just become the norm.
“In general, it’s been a steady incline, which has ramped up in the past few years. Back when we were selling bulls for only $1500 and that was considered an upset price. Now we just get on and sell.”
It’s been a time of radical change for the industry, Michael says, and one he wouldn’t have missed for the world.
“I’ve possibly seen more changes in the past 30 years than my predecessors,” Michael says.
“They saw changes from pounds to the decimal system, but what we’ve gone through is enormous changes with genetic influences, the data that’s available in the seedstock industry now, we’ve got so much to work with. Along with commodity prices and online prices, I’ve seen a lot of change.”
He says it is great to see commercial operators being rewarded for their past efforts.
“People are in the position to invest in quality genetics,” Michael says.
“They’re being rewarded, they can step up and purchase the bulls they want. I don’t see that coming off the boil any time soon. We have got the rate situation, with commodity (prices) and the season right across the country in our favour, which is rare, and across such a broad area of country.
“People are wanting to join heifers to quality, branded, market names.”
END OF ONE ERA
Michael hung up his hat about two weeks ago.
He’s already living the slower life: as we chat the wind whips noisily through the phone as he tells me he’s out walking his dog on the beach.
“My health has been an issue in the past four years, and it’s been challenging to the management of by business and working day,” Michael says.
Health issues in recent years were the catalyst for Michael to decide to step away from the livestock industry, and to focus more on his family and their stud horse business.
“We have other businesses in the family, we run bed and breakfasts, we have our own horse stud, Ashlar stock horse stud (breeding Australian stockhorses), which we’re reinvigorating and have invested in some very nice horses,” Michael says.
“We had to let that go in the past couple of years, but we’ve recently invested in some nice, well-bred mares. We’re not going to get carried away, but we will concentrate on their genetics, and enjoy them.
“I will not be going back into auctioneering, I need to relieve that pressure from my life, and spend more time with my family.”
Isolating a single memory from a career spanning 35 years proves difficult for Michael.
But it’s the people he has had the chance to work with who stand out most in his mind.
“It’s the people you get to sell with, like the great Kevin Norris, or selling the $225,000 Texas bull (in 2021),” Michael says.
“I’ve had the opportunity to work with the greats, past and present.”
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