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The Careers in Agriculture podcast is designed to support the Agriculture industry showcase the human side of new and emerging jobs.
Oli Le Lievre 0:01
G'day and welcome to this episode of the careers and agriculture podcast produced by humans of Agriculture. Today, I'm sitting down with Tom Newsome, the managing director of outcross, agri services to chat about a few different jobs they've got available, you can find the link to find out more about those jobs. In the show notes, also heading over to humans of agriculture.com. And following our careers and agriculture page, to outcross, agri services provide sales, management and consulting services to Australia's livestock industry. They handle livestock technology and data and work with saleyard managers and staff, and livestock agents to really bring about the data capture that's so important to help sales run smoothly with all the right information. So let's just jump in and find out from Tom more about our cross and some of the opportunities they've got available. Tom, thank you for joining us to have a bit of a chat about our cross via your background and story and what you guys are up to been trying to get ahold of you for a couple of months. So it's been a busy finish to 2023 as
Unknown Speaker 1:00
we've had a few huge couple of weeks, but actually a relatively quiet year, particularly up in Queensland, and you know, the bigger cattle areas where they've still had a bit of dry feed. I think, with the collapse in the cattle market, a lot of people have been holding on to them in the second half of the year. But now that we had a break in seeds, and the price in the market jumped a bit that I think Christmas was coming and people realised it was only, you know, two or three selling weeks that they can take advantage of. So it seemed like after Australia decided to sell their cattle in the last three or four weeks.
Oli Le Lievre 1:32
So your staff couldn't find enough hours in the day, I presume? Yeah, pretty well. It's
Unknown Speaker 1:36
we're used to busy times in that Victorian leaner selling seasons always really flat out because it coincides with a big turn off in their, their cycle and production and a lot of days of the Western Victorian yards. I sell about 70% of their stock over a three or four month period. So the sun was always busy down there. And likewise, in New South Wales, it's often quite busy through the autumn, dig special sales and wider sales, make the autumn pretty busy in New South Wales and in Queensland is often busy through the dry so you know, late autumn through the spring, so. But the difference with this was that that had been relatively quiet. And in the time of year, where Queensland would normally start to slide down. It actually picked up because people hadn't sold all you say, wasn't just the Victorians that were busy. It was sort of busy across the board. And they came out of the blue a little bit, because the market had been pretty ordinary for quite a while. And when the market kick and people just decided to quit their cattle then. Yeah, just meant meant for a pretty busy month. Tom, can you tell me
Oli Le Lievre 2:48
what it's been like? It's been a really interesting few years for you guys. Obviously COVID presented its own set of challenges with people being able to get to stockyards and sales and whatnot. But what has it been like for you? You've got 120 staff now running around. There's no small number of people to keep busy. But what has that ride been like over the last few years? If you can share a bit more about that with us?
Unknown Speaker 3:08
Yeah, it's been pretty interesting. It's, we started in 2008. And we're really just a small time contractor. And if a year would go by, and we pick up one client, and we didn't lose the clients we had than we thought we had, had had a pretty good year. And that sort of carried through, really up until about 2016. So we, you know, by the time we got to 2016, we probably still only had five or six clients at that stage and in the businesses was relatively small. We're over a fairly wide geographic area since 2016, where there's been a couple of pretty significant things have happened, I guess in the industry, which has led through to our business. We got involved with private group that built the saleyards data, yes. And then continued on and built the the WV LX yard in western vicar. it more like that was, I guess, a fairly decent jump for us. It meant that we were we've had a lot more staff on our books and a bigger geographic spread. And then in 2017, the Victorian started looking into shape ARD. So we then started working with bigger yards in Victoria like Bendigo and Horsham, and Hamilton and Ariane and all these, I guess big shape yards. So between the web likes being built and the sheep ERD in Victoria, that just opened opened up an opportunity for a contracting business down in Victoria. At the same time in 2019, our longtime software partner which was a company called Belvoir, that didn't build the stockyard software, the owners of that business were keen to get out. So we had the offer to buy that company at the time and and we ended up By balaclava, we also bought the competing company lifestyle change. And we by middle of 2019, we found ourselves in a position where we're really busy with sheep PID in Victoria, we're expanding into these private sale yards in the south. And we bought into a tech business. So, yeah, really, from that stage on, it's the growth of that business has been exponential. And, yeah, it's been an interesting ride, to say the least, as
Oli Le Lievre 5:29
your job changed in that time, as you acquired the tech businesses and needing to manage so many new people,
Unknown Speaker 5:36
I think, you know, I've always obviously been in management. But in the early days of the business, I was on the ground a lot more, you know, I'd be up Adobe, drafting cattle in lines, and, you know, getting up the Blackall, in western Queensland, or, you know, forbs, in central western New South Wales, and some of their early clients were doing a lot of miles. But the work that I was doing was, was often on the ground, actually physically handling the stock, running the sales, that side of it, you know, as the business grows, we've probably got another couple of layers of management, we've got people that are salaried managers, they run the teams on the ground. And then we've got specific site managers that run entire saleyards. And then we've got state managers, and we've got a National Operations Manager. And so all those guys at the moment, they pay for a really strong team that, that are actually on the ground, staffing the sites, running the sites, managing the processes, and managing the clients. And really, my job is just to support them. And make sure that we can clear the hurdles for them to do their job. As well, as you know, bring in more business, make sure everyone gets paid all the other normal management sort of things,
Oli Le Lievre 6:56
the important things that people will well and truly know about if if your job is not getting done.
Unknown Speaker 7:03
Yeah, everyone wants to get paid.
Oli Le Lievre 7:06
They do. I guess how I've known about you guys has really been a bit of a breeding ground for young people. And there's been a few fellas over the years who have really, I guess, built the early stages of their career through you. Is it something that you've done deliberately? Or is it just worked? Well, with the business model?
Unknown Speaker 7:22
Yeah, we have done it deliberately. The work that we do is, a lot of it really is a young person's game, and there's a lot of physical work in it, the hours can be long, it's work that can be physically parts, if you do it for long enough. So it's a real balance between being able to get good stock people that are competent, they're safe, more than anything, and are able to do that job competently, as well as getting people that are, you know, young and enthusiastic and keen, and, and fun to have around. And then that creates a really good company culture. So, yeah, we've always targeted young people, for for those sorts of reasons. You know, they suit the work that we do, they bring energy and real keenness into the work environment, to create a good culture. And, you know, it's really fun working environment overall, does get frustrating.
Oli Le Lievre 8:20
And this is more of a from a personal sense of you build these people's careers up, and then they kind of move on after a few years, or is it? Is there quite a ceiling in terms of those ground operator kind of roles?
Unknown Speaker 8:31
No, not really, we try and bring people in at the bottom. So I think culturally within the business, it's really important that the people in the business know that when they come in that we're developing them, we're developing their skills in terms of stock management, their technology skills, their people management skills. So young people that might be graduates or a lot of them straight out of school. They know that without for us that if they do well, they work hard. They show initiative in the shower, keen interest in all things that we do, and they learn the technology, then we'll give them jobs with responsibility attached to quite a young age. So for young people, it's great, you know, they work in a really broad geographic area, we're sort of from Central Queensland also get South Wales down into Victoria, South Australia. But the other thing they can see is that a lot of our senior managers have come through the entire pathway. They come in right at the bottom, work their way up, eventually got, they'll manage sales or manage the sale process, then they'll manage an area, then they'll manage the state, right through to a guy like Mark button. Sure, who started with us as a unissued. And just, you know, working on our farms around Armadale stuff started coming to the saleyards with us and now he's our operations manager. So he's really running the business and recently he's bought an equity stake. So I think For most of our guys, it's not really a case where they think it's good place to work while you're young. But it's more of a stepping stone, because they can see all of our senior managers have really started at the bottom and work their way up. And I think that's good for them, because they can see the career progression, it also helps the culture of the organisation because everyone working in the field knows that the managers all the way to the top, have done the hard yards and done all the jobs that we're asking them to do as well.
Oli Le Lievre 10:33
I have a few scars for their for their physicians.
Unknown Speaker 10:38
Yeah, it's because particularly in salads, because they're such time down businesses, you get yourself in certain fairly picky situations where there's, there's a lot of work to do, if there's a mistake made or a problem in the process, or you've just got a lot of work ahead of you. The thing about it is, is that that sale is starting at 830 in the morning, no matter what. So we call it feeling the heat, yeah, in order to progress through the business year, you've got to have felt the heat of the impending sale with a lot of work to do and, and, and find your way through it. And I think for young managers and young people in the industry, you sort of got to be in a difficult situation and then overcome those odds. In order to develop yourself develop your understanding, developing maturity in the workplace. And then when difficult positions or you find yourself in a difficult position going forward, then you know that if you just calm and work out what's ahead of you, and then keep chipping away that that you'll be successful. And you'll you'll get through that that issue in the workplace. So, yeah, it's good. It's good for the development of young people, or it's also good for the culture of the business. And hopefully, it makes a good workplace where people are keen to, you know, be part of outcrossing. And, you know, we'd like to think we're well regarded in the industry as well. Yeah, absolutely.
Oli Le Lievre 12:04
Now, what are some of the positions that you guys have available at the moment, so we've
Unknown Speaker 12:09
got a few different jobs in the works at the moment, we, we do some of our advertising directly, but we also work with spinifex, who have been really good ticularly, you know, identifying a database for people that have experience and because those guys by so many young people in the North, our idea is that, we'd like that once they hit South again, which a lot of them do, whether that's, you know, dnn Armidale, or Sydney or Brisbane, or Gatton, or Marcus Oldham, we'd like to get those young people when they come back down south and offer them I guess, an ongoing job or an ongoing career path in the livestock industry is down here. So it's really good mix. So that's sort of that's sort of how we go about it. That component of it, we sort of targeted how bunch of different people we we've got a lot of a lot of people come work for us while they're still in school. What a bit worthless while they're still at uni, and it gives them a, I guess, part one uni job. And then if you got to that mix of people that have been in industry and can bring good stock skills or good tech skills back into our business, then that works pretty well, the sort of jobs we're getting at the moment, we've got a role in New South Wales, which is really good with the shaping the ID system coming in New South Wales with the national rollout outcross, where New South Wales is big shape state, and we work with the six biggest saleyards in New South Wales. So we're quite integral to the, I guess, the project management of that rollout of sheep PID through the saleyard system, which is a pretty integral part of the sheep industry in New South Wales. So we're looking at someone probably based out of Dubbo, to manage our sheep ARD rollout. We're looking for a sale manager in Victoria, and we're looking for a sale yard manager in New South Wales. So we've got some pretty senior positions within our organisation. And we'd be really keen to find people out there that have got those skills, they've got an interest in, obviously, livestock, but you know, they've got a flexible attitude. And they're keen to learn that the technology and the process side of what we do there and just get involved in a in our business, which, you know, in that side sector is pretty integral to getting that sheepy ID systems rolled out in the next couple of years.
Oli Le Lievre 14:36
And so I know earlier, you had mentioned around people working their way up in the business, people can actually step into this role. So what would be the ideal candidate or the background of someone who'd be successful stepping into these different roles? Well,
Unknown Speaker 14:49
ideally, you'll have good livestock handling skills initially and you have to be good with people. So there's a lot of people management within our organisation but because we're working with a lot of stakeholders, so say I'd managers, agencies, producers, buyers, all those different groups sort of rely on us to make sure that we do our job well. So they're probably the two biggest skills is having a good knowledge of the livestock industry being good snug person yourself, as well as having the maturity and the, I guess, the personality type to manage people, whether they're your own staff or your clients, as well as, you know, be able to manage difficult situations that generally things are pretty good. And as relationships are good, but it's always the case in any business where there's, there's going to be a certain amount of conflict and, and how that conflict is managed and, and how we work with our clients and our staff to, I guess, resolve whatever issue is, is at hand, becomes really important. Because particularly in the saleyard sector, there's always there's, there's always a problem in those big yards, it's a logistical nightmare. So there's always a problem, someone's always got an issue, whether it's a buyer or an agent, or us as a business or the SE and operator. And ultimately, we work quite well as a team. So if a buyer has got a problem, then we can help them fix that problem. And then likewise, you know, we make mistakes ourselves. And often, because we've been helping the agents and buyers and vendors out, then, you know, when when we inevitably make a mistake ourselves, then it's often the case where they'll jump in and fix that issue or share the pain or just help us resolve it. And by doing that, we've it's actually quite a tight knit community, we're sort of all in it together. And Joe want to have a really good efficient siad selling system. And in the best way to get that is to, you know, to get on and pulling the same direction.
Oli Le Lievre 16:57
Yeah, sounds like a really good healthy kind of relationship that you guys all have with your clients in order to make it all work because that's what everyone's in it for. So we're about to can people find out a little bit more info on these roles and more about our cross? So
Unknown Speaker 17:10
they're all up on their website? Our coastal condo? Are you on our socials? So we're on Instagram and Facebook sold, our roles are posted with benefits. So you can go to spinifex and have a chat to them to their their fading a constant stream of good quality. Young people trade our business, which is great. Yes. So just get in touch, get in touch with the app for us. And you'll be able to be put in touch with someone who will be able to show you in on the particular roles.
Oli Le Lievre 17:42
Perfect, Tom, well, is there anything else that you wanted to add that is that? No,
Unknown Speaker 17:47
not really, I think the livestock sector is incredibly exciting industry to be in for young people and our businesses is really just a snapshot of the sorts of business opportunities there are out there. And it's really a great sort of melting pot of a business that handles an incredible number of stuff. You know, I think that the last board melt was we've physically handled over 80,000 cattle, and 260,000 sheep. But on top of that there's technology and information and consulting and all the different services that come together to provide, I guess, a well rounded, integrated service business to the livestock industry. And it's not just our businesses, there's plenty of good, exciting, new sort of, I guess, New Age businesses out there that are now open to young people as they leave school, leave uni or college and are keen to enter the industry. So their life looks really dynamic place. And I'd encourage anyone who is interested to jump into it, show the initiative and just get involved, because there's plenty of good jobs out there and in also plenty of career paths for
Oli Le Lievre 18:59
absolutely not Well, thank you so much for that, Tom. And we'll direct people to your socials as well, because I'm sure there's a bit more about your team and what you guys are up to and, and where you are. And as we roll into January, we know it's going to be a pretty busy time, so might be a good place to watch for a bit of salary and entertainment.
Unknown Speaker 19:17
So it's gonna be hectic, so get on it.
Oli Le Lievre 19:20
Perfect. Thanks, Mike for that. No worries. Well, that's it for another episode from us here at humans of agriculture. We hope you're enjoying these podcasts. And well if you're not, let us know. Hit us up at Hello at humans of agriculture.com. Get in touch with any guests recommendations topics, or things you'd like us to talk and get curious about. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend. Right subscribe, review it, any feedback is absolutely awesome. And we really do welcome it. So look after yourselves. Stay safe, stay sane. We'll see you next time.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai