IT has been 40 years on the job today and to celebrate Russell Mawson is spending his day at the Euroa cattle sales.
“I’ve seen the good times and the bad times – if you start with this company you finish with it”, were Russell's words on talking with The Euroa Gazette on his career working with people 'on the land'.
"I have seen a lot and experienced a lot of changes in that time," Russell said.
Russell Mawson is a man with a work ethic that many would be envious of.
He started his livestock agent's career in Euroa at a very young age and his first job was attending a ram sale held in the pavilion of the Euroa showgrounds and he hasn't looked back since.
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"I went for an interview for a job with Dalgety’s – I was up against 14-15 other applicants," he recalled.
"I was first to be interviewed for the job and was told I got it on the spot.
My boss who employed me was Geoff Langsford.
"I have found if you start with this company you end your working life with it."
"I did my first 12 months at Euroa and at that time the branch oversaw Seymour, Alexandra, Yea and Violet Town – there was a problem at Yea and I was asked if I would go and look after that branch or the company would shut it down," Russell recalled.
"At Yea there was myself and two gentlemen in real estate.
"I ran that branch for maybe 10-15 years and when I left there were about 10 staff there.
"The company then asked me to come back to Euroa.
"I was in the livestock division and I am still in livestock and more.
"I run the operations from the front line; I don’t like to be in an office or behind a computer, I pay people to do that; I’m a 'general' on the front line and that’s how I like to be seen.
Mr Rawson said that you lose touch with your client and the market if you are not out there and that could be any market including bull sales, real estate, farm sales, fertiliser sales and just advising farmers on their next move.
He introduced the feature Angus sales in Euroa and then he was back at Yea and while there he was a part of the committee that built the new Yea Saleyards.
Up against 17 applicants, he took on the job as manager at Euroa.
– I achieved that and have had a wonderful life working with the best lot of people I have ever worked with," he said.
"We have an enormous amount of staff over 40 years – a lot of long term people here.
"It is a seven-day-a-week job and probably 17 hour days – 16 hours are phone calls – it is what it is.
"We’ve had the good times and we’ve seen the bad times; I’ve had to shoot sheep and bury them in the pits; but there have been more good times.
"I’ve seen the industry change from being a ‘farm doctor’ delivering babies to doing skin grafts or what ever – but now it is totally different.
" It is segregated – you now have to have some sort of degree or certificate for different aspects of farming – it's become very high tech; it’s just amazing – the whole thing has transformed."
"Over his 40 years he has seen the company change hands probably four times.
"I started with Dalgety’s going through to ANZ, AWB, Westfarmer's and Agrium (presently called Nutrien Harcourt)."
Russell said it’s a great company to work for today, the people are very good.
"Its going through one of the biggest changes I have ever seen where the markets are changing by the day and the running costs are massive, but in saying that, our company is in here for the long haul and it’s a good feeling to know you have the backing as we go forward with stability.
"So we have seen some of the worst of it; the best of it – here to experience it all.
"If you didn’t have a great bunch of people to work with – we have gone from one young lady on our staff to around 35 percent young ladies – and now employ 30 people – here in this area Euroa/Seymour," Russell said.
"I started when I was very young; the day after I got the job I went and got a drivers licence, it was easy back then; I drove around the block and the copper said “you’ve got your licence”, as easy as that.
"In all my time in this job I think I have ever only owned one car in my whole life.
"I have driven many [vehicles]; I have had accidents; I once sunk one car in the river when – and that was at Seymour.
"Computerisation has taken over much of the job; I saw the industry before computers – now we can take a photo of any animal on the farm – a piece of real estate, the drones that go over the top, and we can have that information in England or Dubai within seconds – it’s just amazing technology.
"And technology has become faster; I can remember going to a Hay sheep sale and you didn’t have mobile phones – at first we had a ‘brick’ and then came along the mobile phone.
"When I started the Herford cattle were the mainstay of the industry – but now with the younger generation coming along Angus have taken over – the marketing strategy has seen Angus boom – you see it advertised in fast foods everywhere – the younger ones know how to market.
"Is the meat any different? "You could argue that all day long but the Angus Society, to their credit, are a magnificent marketing machine.
"We [Nutrien Harcourt] are now also the largest fertiliser distributer in the world – that’s all part of our business.
“It’s not what it was and I think it is going to change a lot more in the future.
"We’ve seen the high in real estate – now it is on the way down – we have to navigate those changes– people are always going to sell property and we have to guide them through that journey.
"It’s been good – the company has been fantastic; when I left Yea they gave me a send-off and I could not describe the number of people that turned up to wish me well – it was amazing; I knew every big farmer, every small farmer and everyone in between – the people were great people."
