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Humans of Agriculture brings you inside the conversations, careers and stories shaping agriculture. Hosted by Oli Le Lievre, the podcast gives listeners access to the people, ideas and experiences you might not otherwise get close to.
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Welcome to the Tom and Mick Show.
Tom: Well, here we are, team, first of September. We're- we're into it. Spring's certainly sprung here in Orange, twenty-one degrees on the weekend. Corco, how are you doing, mate?
Mick (Corco): Tommy, going well. Thank you, mate. We'll dive straight into it. We've had, what have we had, a month off, two months off? Oli's had us on the bench.
Mate, this week it's sort of been in our minds for a while, albeit it was very much late notice for our guest. Today's bloke, I'd say, is highly regarded in the livestock agency world, albeit I knew of him but didn't know a whole lot about him and his business. I feel like he probably floats under the radar a little bit, and I reckon that's probably by design. But Tom, for this podcast we've got Michael Spencer of Adcock Partners. Spence, welcome to the pod.
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Michael Spencer: Thanks, Corco. Good time. Thank you, mate.
Tom: Did Corco, like, he would have lined something up here, you've got a cut and a beer, you two are in the same room, there'd be some sort of payment under the table, I assume.
Michael Spencer: I'm hoping that's the case, but at this stage it's yet to come to fruition, Tom.
Mick (Corco): Yeah. Nothing's free in this world, Tom. But to kick us off, Spence, and I'll probably get a bit of that of this too, can you tell us a little bit about your background in the business that you're in today and- and how you got there? Yeah.
Sorted it, don't worry.
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Michael Spencer: Sure. Thank you, guys, for the opportunity. Yeah, look, I mean what you said at the start's probably pretty true. I mean, our- our business and myself probably run a little bit under the radar now, but over- over my history I've probably been in some pretty public places as well.
And I- first of all, I don't know how far you want to go back, but I went to school in Melbourne Grammar boarding house and, you know, a lot of big school there, and I got- I was really a- probably a city kid, but I got very much hooked up with mates who were country blokes, and I used to, at every opportunity, go to country New South Wales and the Riverina and all those places and, you know, driving cars and tractors and all that sort of shit, and I got the bug.
And when I left school I didn't really know what I wanted to do. So I- I took a job with TA Field first day of school, and at Hunts the Wong I did a year there and they transferred me to Conglate Walk. I had a couple- a year there and I sort of worked around varying properties, and after, I don't know, five or six years of- of that sort of thing, I started to think about my future a little bit and I was very interested in agency.
I was very interested in Elders, actually. I didn't really know what it was, but I had a few mates and things that were in the Elders system, young blokes and stuff. And after a period of time I used some relationships that I had and managed to get myself a- a start in the Elders system. I started in New South Wales. I sort of started off in Armidale and worked at Glen Innes under Greg Nags and Tony White. And then I- I became a branch manager at Moree a couple of years after that.
Then I- I actually left Elders for a bit and started- because I wanted to stay in Moree at the time. Elders were looking for me to move to a town that I didn't want to go to, bigger location in their mind, but not a career path I wanted to go down. So to stay in Moree I had to leave Elders at that time, and I ran- I became the operations manager for Sandy Munro's business, which is Weebollabolla, well known.
It was a very big business and really good fun there. You know, I mean, he's known for the stud and the cattle and all those things, but he also had a lot of farming, a lot of irrigation, a lot of grain. He had an interest in a- he had an ownership portion of a grain business in town, a grain processing facility, a grain marketing facility. So there was a lot of fun in that and a lot of development for me in that, and I learned a lot of things there, and then-
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-career paths took me back to Elders. I went back to Elders in the Queensland system. I went and ran the Goondiwindi branch for a couple of years and they transferred me to Brisbane, where I became a- I was sort of a- an operations manager for Queensland and the Northern Territory for Elders livestock. And then I became, like, a key account manager, which gave me the opportunity to get into managing, you know, accounts like AACo. I was the- one of the account managers for AACo. So I got to do a lot of travelling and do a lot of things.
And all those corporate businesses go through management changes and structures, and there was a time when AACo was go- sorry, Elders was going through a structure that was a little bit negative at the time, and at the same time AACo was going through a positive growth phase, and AACo asked myself and a couple of other Elders people to go and work for them. At the time Troy Setter was with us at Elders. He was running the NACC business, the live export business out of- out of Darwin.
So Troy went to AACo as the COO, the chief operating officer, under David Farley, and he recruited me, as there was four general managers. One guy ran the feedlots, one guy ran the very northern stations and I ran the Queensland stations, and we worked with Troy intently on that. He was our- he was our direct boss. And that was a great time. I really loved the- the time at AACo, but by that point we'd had a couple of kids and my wife was still working. We're living in Brisbane and I was away a hundred and sixty or seventy nights a year and loved it, but probably needed to get out of it.
So we moved to Inverell. I took the job as the general manager of Bindaree livestock. So the all the- the buying and the- the guys in the yards and anything to do with livestock basically reported to me, which was- that was a really fascinating turn in my career probably, because I- you don't understand processing until you've actually been directly involved in it.
And I learned an enormous amount in that couple of years. I think I've learned more in that couple of years than I learned in anything else about how animals become retail products and all the processes between delivering them to the plant and putting them on someone's table several months later. So it was a really fascinating couple of years, that one. I really learned a lot and I've taken a lot away from that. And we bought a- I was involved in the acquisition of Myola Feedlot at that time as well, for Bindaree, from the Mulligan family. And then-
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-things happen and we move around, and we started the Adcock Partners business. Andrew Adcock was the main driver and the catalyst behind us starting that, but it was sort of a- you know, we put together a group of kind of like-minded people. So that was in two thousand and nineteen. So what are we- we've been going seven- I think this is the seventh or eighth year. I'm not smart enough to do the maths on that one. But yeah, we've been going for seven or eight years. We've had a few different evolutions.
Mick (Corco): That's perfect. A quick question for you. For a livestock agent, you've had quite a different sort of path to where you are today as opposed to, you know, the traditional sort of trajectory. And you sort of hinted at parts of it, but you work for a private family business, although it sounds like a- a very good one and a very large one, the Sandy Munro. You're in one of the biggest corporate spaces with AACo and then into processing with Bindaree. How do those experiences shape you as a- you know, you're obviously running your own business today, and then as a livestock marketer in general?
Michael Spencer: Yeah, well, look, I- I think that's a really good question. And- and it's probably a little bit hard to define, but, you know, I mean, I've been doing this- roles of that I spoke about for thirty years. So you- you kind of evolve your own path, I suppose, and paths are based on what you want to do career-wise and locations. I mean, locations are important, and people that you have around you, and the people you want to be around and the people you don't want to be around. There isn't any function in livestock marketing that I haven't done.
That doesn't mean I'm good at it. It just means I've been an auctioneer, I've been in saleyards, I've been an AuctionsPlus assessor, I've been a- it's associated with live export, grain feeding, supplementary feeding, drought feeding. So I've sold cattle heavy, I've sold light, I've sold cheap, I've sold dear. I've sold in hot country, dry country, snowy country, everywhere. And I- and I'm not trying to be arrogant when I say that, but livestock marketing and livestock agency, to really understand it, you have to have done it. And-
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-I think, you know, it's important, you know, it's easy old Blaze like me to say, but, you know, in livestock it really is a- a life experience thing, and there are plenty of things that I know work really well in livestock marketing, and there are things that I think work well that I don't particularly want to do or don't have involvement with. Like, there are businesses that are based, you know, around saleyards that are enormous, and- and all power to them, but that's not for me. And I don't know- I've done that.
But, you know, businesses that base themselves around that can be incredibly successful. So I suppose with all of the, you know, gener- my Elders career and my time at AACo and my time at Bindaree were very public. And I think the- the biggest thing about our business now is we are under the radar, I suppose. Like, we're very proud of our business. We don't advertise much. We do minimal social media. I'm not saying this is right, this is just how we've evolved. We don't really advertise. We sponsor and we support things, and- but it's always with people who support us.
Most people wouldn't know what we do and who we do it with and where we do it. I mean, you know, the- the industry, the agents, you know, comparable businesses are aware of us and know what happens. But look, we probably don't have enough presence in certain market. And when I say markets, I probably mean geographic locations. We've always had a bit of a wish list around people we'd like to get, and the people we'd like to get are based on where they're located and how good they are.
As everybody knows, any business is only as good as the people that are in it. And, you know, if you look after the- you get the right people in the business and you look after them, they look after the clients, and from there on it's pretty easy. So we pride ourselves on our relationships. In the seven years that we've been going, we have changed a couple of people in the business. You know, Andrew retired.
Sam Bartlett was with- and Sam Bartlett decided he wanted to be his own guy in- in the Corpiera, which is perfectly fine. We still had a fantastic relationship with Sam. That's just an evolution for him and the path he wanted to go. So that's great. But we have had the opportunity to take on people that we've just said no to. They just don't fit us. And we have had people, in very small numbers, that we've had with us that we have said, "We don't need you anymore." But to my knowledge, we've never had a client leave us.
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Which I don't think many businesses can say. And we have- our top five or six clients are very enviable clients, very reputable, very sizeable and very loyal. So I mean, that's one thing that I really pride ourselves on, is the fact that we might, you know, see some people come and go from time to time for varying reasons, but we don't lose clients. And I think that's a reflection of the service. Yeah.
Tom: Yeah. That speaks volumes in itself. And firstly, y- so you said you don't do a huge amount of social media. Get ready to break the internet, 'cause Mick and I have a wrench. Don't worry about that. Yeah.
Mick (Corco): Yeah, I think. We're on here. Yeah, that's right. Grab them.
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Yeah, yeah.
You mentioned something about Adcock and like-minded pe- people, and- and can you just touch on, like, high level, what's that philosophy? Is there something you walk into the- into the shop every day, or whatever it is, and what that looks like?
Michael Spencer: Yeah, look, I- I think there's a simple thing to that, because Andrew and I were both very involved in heavy corporate agriculture, AACo, Elders, Andrew's in the Ray White system. No disrespect to any of those businesses, but they're a lot heavier and clunkier around day-to-day operations and decision-making than what we are.
When Andrew and I were running the business together, you know, you bring Andrew and go, "We want to do X, Y, Z," you go do and hang up. That was it. Like, there's no "Talk to the HR department, talk to the- you know, get all the stakeholders involved and do a PowerPoint presentation and we'll run it through the committee and see what happens in a month's time." We just- being agile, being sharp, good decision-makers is the- is very freeing and very liberating when you're running a business.
And the counter to that, which I actually like, is it makes you responsible for the results. The decisions you make are very measurable every second of every day. So, you know, if you do make a mess or you make a bad call, that's fine, we'll do that. But you just don't make the same mistake twice. So we take responsibility for our own decisions. We know what we kinda think- I don't want to sound arrogant or- but we- we kinda know what works. We kinda know what we want to do.
We have explored options that are probably a little bit out of our comfort zone around, you know, some acquisitions of other businesses. But we get to a point where it kinda scares us a bit, like if we start looking at a business in- in a sailor centre, for example. We talk ourselves out of it once we get too far down the track. And again, no- no disrespect to the guys that do that. It's just not something that-
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Like-
Mick (Corco): Last question from me, Spence, just on the agency front. We've spoken about it in- in a previous conversation off air. You've come from an agency era, you know, that's older than Tom and I, and the agency game may have changed. How has it changed, and how do you- yeah, and how do you think- out of guests probably don't draft every single load for a client, you know, like, what does good service look like to you?
Michael Spencer: Yeah, so look, when I- when I started, I mean, I- I think agency, saleyard agency, probably hasn't changed dramatically in the thirty years I've been doing it. And that's where we started, and that's a great place to learn. It's a great place for people to learn how to, you know, to deliver cattle to a market and, you know, what needs to go in what pen and what they're worth. Value is the- one of the most important things we do with.
I don't know that the evolution has changed that much from those days to now in the saleyard function. Some saleyards have got bigger, some have disappeared, but the function is still basically the same. There's a few new tricks now with saleyards, like, you know, the big multinationals who buy a big bunch of saleyards and shut little ones, like, and that's worked well. That's been a really good thing. I mean, Carcoar's a classic example of- I don't know how many little saleyards were around that they closed, three, four, five, something like that. And everyone said it was never going to work, and it's been an enormous success. So that's great.
You then- you've got the other ones, the- you- the big one. If you look, the big yards, like, you know, Roma, Dalby, they're that big and that powerful that they've managed to hang on to their own identity, and they haven't been taken over by anybody. So I think that function is still the same and kind of crucial in agency development and attracting people. Young blokes seem to want to be in saleyards.
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And they want to be auctioneers and all that stuff, that's cool. But outside of that, I think there's more agents now that paddock-focused solely. I think there's more now than what there was. I mean, when, you know, when I went to Glen Innes, you're bad cook, I was one of the other blacks in town. You know, Glen Innes is a small town, but it had a very big saleyard presence for its, you know, in relation to what the town was. Every agent was there every Sunday and every agent sold there Monday, and read sheep sales and all sorts of things. And that's a town now that has no sales.
So the function is still the same. It's probably just changed. I think the cost of saleyards and all that stuff has always been somewhat prohibitive. You know, it costs a lot more for vendors to sell in saleyards. It costs a lot for ag- costs a lot more for agents to be in saleyards. So to go back to the service question, we always do our own drafting and things like that. I mean, it's- it's rare that we would not ever attend a site to do drafts and deliveries.
There is an odd time when we physically can't cover the distance we have to- to get to a job or something like that. But we're not against- we haven't got a plane or a pilot, but, you know, we have used, you know, small planes, charter planes and things, to get someone to where they need to be to do jobs, or we might go to a place where there's large runs of cattle coming out the next little while and do three or four jobs while we're there and just have them ready and lined up to be trucked out at different times.
The service model is important. Some of the bigger businesses we deal with, the service model looks a bit different too, like hyper- you know, well, if you're dealing with a business that- that's got a CEO structure and then a general manager structure and then maybe an area manager structure and a local manager structure, it's important to develop a relationship with all of that. So, you know, I might do the relationship with the CEO and the CFO and GMs, and then you, Patrick, or one of the other guys might be working with the GMs and the station managers, but it's all one conversation. It's a fluid conversation in our group, between ourselves and- and- and between them. So we make sure the messaging is clear and right. And yeah.
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Tom: You mentioned you're in Inverell, but you don't really service that area. You've got a little bit more of a- I- I believe it's a Queensland flavour. Can you give us what the seasons are like for the country you're- you're covering at the moment as we head into September? Yeah.
Michael Spencer: Yeah, so last week I drove- I mean, I do a lot of driving, and I drove last week from Inverell to Moree, Mungindi, St George, Roma, Injune, Rolleston, Emerald, Middlemount, and which, you know, most of the people listening will know that area. It's a fair area, like, it's thirteen, fourteen hundred K trip. And it was pretty much shithouse the whole way, you know. It- some of the best country I saw was in the first sort of hundred and fifty Ks, like, as far as grass goes.
It really surprised me how dry St Geor- well, Surat, St George on, like Emerald, Rolleston, Middlemount, all that country was really surprisingly bad. It really surprised me how that country had deteriorated. But north of there it starts to get good, and west of there it starts to get good. So I suppose if you drew a line, Longreach across to Mackay and Longreach straight south to the border, that big chunk, you know, including Roma and all that country I spoke about, is pretty average. It- it really surprised me. But when you go out in the Channels, there's a lot of good feed in the Channels, a lot of good heavy cattle in the Channels.
The nor- n- northern areas of Queensland are very good. They're probably, you know, getting- in- in the real Gulf country they're probably getting to the end of the protein window. So there could be, you know, some cattle that probably don't look as good as they could, but they've had a great season there. The Northern Territory, very similar, had a great season all over. I think, you know, I haven't been to Alice Springs in recent times, but there's a lot of, you know, really good cattle coming out of there, and it's powerful country when it's good, and it's good.
And the northern part of the Northern Territory would be, yeah, starting to use lick and things to get protein into cattle. But they've had a great year. Yeah, it's been a good year all over. And New South Wales, you guys are probably known more than I, but New South Wales appears to be catching up seasonally. Victoria and the Riverina and South seems like it's going pretty good. New South Wales just playing a little bit of catch-up. We all went through a little dry spell there, you know, the last few months, but it seems to be showing some signs of hope.
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Mick (Corco): To talk cattle market, Spence, like, northern New South Wales has reportedly firmed a bit this week. What's the northern cattle market doing at the moment?
Michael Spencer: Probably the same, Corco. Like, if you wanted to buy cattle, three weeks ago is the time to do it. You know, if you want to buy now, it's a fair bit harder. So the- the whole market's got a- just a bit of a spring in its step, I suppose, at the minute, on the back of rain that has fallen and potential rain that's gonna fall. Also, we're- you know, we're first day of spring today. Well, yeah, we are first day of spring today. That's always a bit of a confidence boost. August is always a hard month. I think the biggest influence at the moment is- is actually the farmer himself.
They all decide they're gonna stop buying and the job shits itself, and they all get sad and disappointed over that, and then all of a sudden it comes- rains, and they all think, "Shit, I'd better buy something." They all turn up on the same day and they're just- gonna jobs through the roof, and next thing they're complaining about it being too dear. And I really do think the- the underlying fundamentals of the market, the- the meat market, is strong. We've got a pretty good domestic meat market.
And there'll be some changes in that, you know, as far as types of meat and things. As Anthony Albanese destroys the economy, people will probably go back to a few things like sausages and mince rather than T-bones and Scotch fillets. But there- there's noticeable that there is some change domestically around what they're processing, but the volume is still good. That's the main thing. America is very strong for us. Indonesia on the live export front is very strong for us. The- all the markets want to buy everything cheaper. We just have to find ways to not let that happen.
But I- I really do think, you know, to talk about the back end of the year and what's happening at the moment, the greatest evidence over the last month that just keeps proving itself is that the farmer's got the greatest influence on the price at the moment. Now, I'm not saying when it gets sheep bashes or buying drought feed, but when they turn up it's good, and when they don't, it's not so good. And that's very, very evident at the moment.
You could have bought, you know, really good quality heifers out of central Queensland for under three bucks three weeks ago, and the same heifers are making four bucks today. Like, it's twenty-five percent increase in four weeks. The only difference is a few people got a share around. And their paddock.
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Mick (Corco): Yeah.
Tom: On that, and like, you obviously cover- again, you- you have a big geographical spread. Can you touch on the impacts of the live ex market and then that sort of domestic Australian market, how they influence each other, and I would imagine, literally what you're talking about with seasons, what that does? What does that look like?
Michael Spencer: Yeah, so really the real overlap between live export and anything that happens domestically is really the breed. It's a Brahman thing. So in the COVID years, we sold enormous amounts of Brahman cattle from the north to New South Wales, Southern Queensland, all sorts of places. And- and just performance thing, an interesting thing. One of the guys we deal with at Walcha, he's got a magnificent property, bought a run of Brahman steers.
And he was amazed how well they did, like, on an ADG basis compared to his home-bred Angus steers. They're almost exactly the same on ADG. It- Brahman steers from the north in Walcha. And they did almost exactly the same ADG as local-bred steers. Now, you sell them for a lot less, but you buy for a lot less. So with a lot of cattle that came down from the north in that period, the market plummeted on the back of that COVID era where everything was so good. So there was a lot of people that their Brahman trade didn't work out as well as they'd hoped.
To answer your question, Tom, the live export takes Brahmans and loves them, and that's what they want. They do take some other cattle in smaller numbers, or increasing numbers actually. Like, there's some softer cattle going into the Indonesian market these days. But there is a line drawn for the people to come south with Brahmans these days. They're not as keen.
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You can put them in the Channels. They'd make beautiful bullocks, things like that. The feedlots will buy them when numbers are short. The guys in the paddock will- you know, Queensland will buy Brahmans when their season's good. So it's really the influence- I don't know there has ever been much influence between what happens in the live export market and what happens domestically. It just comes down to a price point. There's a lot of that, you know, Charters Towers across to Camooweal, Mount Isa, Cloncurry.
There's a lot of cattle get delivered to, you know, Cloncurry or Julia Creek or Richmond that could go north or south. But they're probably softer than a- than a straight brand, yeah.
Mick (Corco): It's probably dropped out of the media because we've got other stuff going on in the country at the moment. But how do you see live export placed from a national perspective?
Michael Spencer: Extremely important. It's extremely important on a number of levels. That it's important to- Indonesia's the main one, and- and it's important to Indonesia. It's important to us, but it's important to them. There's such a huge pop- I've been to Indonesia, you know, ten or twelve times, and it's a fantastic place. It's a fantastic place that's trying to do the right thing. It's trying to feed its people. It's got a huge population.
The development of things like, you know, feedlots through Australia and international investment over there is incredible. There are feedlots over there that I could take you to, and if I drop you in there on a blindfold, you'd think you were in Australia. They're- they're exactly the same as Australian feedlots. They're- they're trying their best to be as good as they can. There's, you know, they've got some limitations around what they can feed. They've got an abundance of labour. You can go to-
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-a feedlot where there's ten thousand people and they'll have four or five hundred staff, but they're just that keen to work and get paid. It's amazing. It's incredible. So there is machinery and everything over there. They- the same TSIs and, you know, weighing systems and all that stuff that we use here. It's exactly the same. But, you know, instead of having automated machines cleaning bunks and that sort of stuff, they've got, you know, forty-five ladies and gentlemen with brooms and shovels and things, and they love it and they turn up every day. Yeah. So I- I see it as enormously important, particularly for North Australia, but it's- but we have to remember it's really important for the Indonesians. It is really, really important for them. They've got a massive population and they need to be fed.
Mick (Corco): Spencer, have you got clientele that, you know, potentially factoring in the risk and- and changing the structure of their herds to try and chase a bit more of a southern market, or- or a guy's, you know, committed to the live export?
Michael Spencer: No, no, there is, Corco. Yeah, that's a good point. So there- some of the bigger operators will run- you know, that have got multiple sites will have a, like, a Grey Brahman property and a crossbred property and a- and then a- maybe a softer property, that sort of thing. So yeah, look, there's been all sorts of things tried, from Angus, Ultrablack, Charolais, Droughtmaster, you know, not as soft, Sanders. There's been all sorts of things tried. Shorthorns, there's been- there's been all sorts of things tried.
I think there seems to be some success in the Brahman Angus, Brahman Ultrablack usage. That seems to be finding a path, and it's finding a path with markets in Indonesia as well. Not in huge volumes, but, you know, large enough. You can go to some feedlots over there and find pens of black cattle. And they're for different markets. So when they go over they're kept separate and they're fed differently, and they're fed for different customers. But yeah, there certainly is, but-
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-probably the most consistent animal for the trade is the Grey Brahman, is the- the most consistent. But then of course your Red Brahmans and honeys and all the other ones are, you know, find a path as well. But there certainly is people- to answer your question, there certainly is people thinking about softening their herd, yeah.
Mick (Corco): On the flip side of that, is the black cattle into Indonesia, is that servicing an Australian population over there, or is that servicing- or is that the Indonesian palate change? Who's buying that?
Michael Spencer: Yeah, so it's probably what you would say, more middle to higher-end market. So it's maybe n- maybe not necessarily Australian, but, you know, there's a multitude of Anglo-Saxon type people that live over there, bankers, and you name it, they're over there, and every hotel chain in the world, Hilton, Marriott, you know, all- they're all over there. So that- those markets require something a little bit better than the- you know, the- the meat that's purchased out of the traditional wet market for the local trade, yeah.
Mick (Corco): Final question from me. Crystal ball stuff. What is the cattle market- more as a generalisation, not looking for, you know, live export or anything, more of a generalisation of heading into spring, end of twenty-six and into twenty-seven, really. And- and we'll- don't- I- we'll revisit it, so we'll check it for you. But yeah, where do you see the- the market heading?
Michael Spencer: I- look, I like the market. I do. I think it- I think it looks very strong. I really do. I mean- I mean, there's times when I don't say- I'm not just saying that to say people- bloody- I'm not telling people what they want to hear, but I think it looks strong. The underlying fundamentals behind what we do are good. Season's gonna be the biggest dictator of what the price does from now through to, you know, this time next year, whether we have a hot, shitty summer or whether we have a good, kind one.
And I think that's the crucial thing. As long as we keep our domestic trade chill for long and the economy doesn't get too crooked, as long as America-
(27:14.4)
-remains strong, and of course the Indonesian trade is very important. So I think if we look after the domestic and the US and the- and the Indonesians, you know, the other markets are just as important. The- you know, slightly smaller volumes will come and go as they do. But that's the three main markets we want to look after, and- and it's going to be rain-dependent, unfortunately. It's- it's a terrible thing. But- and people want- people always want to- I always find that people always want to come up with some fancy reason why the job's up or down, but shit, it's rain-based, I'll tell you.
Mick (Corco): Thanks, Spence. And to round out, Tom, you haven't had the- the pleasure or the ability to have met Spence in the flesh, but I can assure you he's a bigger-framed blocker.
Like that not for a signal fab.
No, sorry, I just- mate. He's much bigger than you, Tom. Spence, what- what breed of northern bull would you be, and why?
Michael Spencer: Ooh, Jesus.
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Tom: While you're answering that, I did notice, Corco, that you- and to use some of Spencer's terminology, you- you're not picking any of those soft southern bulls, so-
Mick (Corco): No. Well, he does most of his- most of his work in the north. I think there's a Charolais influence there, with maybe a bit of a slick cut.
Michael Spencer: I've got a fair bit of buddy. I got a few battle scars, and I think I'm probably a Brahman- I- I think I'm a Charbray. Charbray? Yeah, and I don't really know why, but just a few scars and been there, will survive.
Mick (Corco): Can go to multiple markets. Yeah.
Yeah.
(28:43.384)
See, t- Tom's one of those nice soft Angus bulls out of the south that you've probably belted up in the paddock and left him in the back corner.
Michael Spencer: Yeah, yeah. Tom wouldn't like it too hot or too cold. He just wants mediocre.
Tom: I like the cold, I do not like the heat. And we won't mention what, Corco, what you are, but anyway, Spence, that was an amazing chat. Really appreciate you.
Michael Spencer: You'll have to do a bit of editing, we've gone past time, boys.
Mick (Corco): No, thank you, Spence. That's awesome.