EARLY one morning, when setting up for a cattle sale in Bandiana, livestock specialist Mike Scollard ran a test. Fellow agent Dan Ivone was known for his composure, and Mr Scollard wanted to see how far it would go, so he began surreptitiously putting cattle in the wrong pens or flicking the gate chains to let them wander out. “This went on to about five o'clock in the morning,” Mr Scollard said. “He walked past me, he said ‘I've had enough of what you've been doing’, and I burst out laughing. “I cannot believe that I could annoy a bloke somewhere between two and three hours and he’d not want to belt me.” It’s just one example of Mr Ivone’s approach to working in the industry, where his strong work ethic and excellent eye for cattle has built a loyal base of clients for over 30 years. “He’s thorough, he knows his values, nothing’s too much of a bother for him,” Mr Scollard said. “If cattle need drenching, if they need marking, if they need drafting, assessing, he's there to do the lot.” According to Mr Scollard, his former boss of stock and station agency Paull & Scollard, Dan Ivone approached the company over 30 years ago to become a livestock agent. After around two years working on commission, Mr Scollard recalled Mr Ivone set up a successful special cattle sale in Myrtleford, opened by former deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer. He said one buyer purchased around 600 head of cattle. Later Mr Ivone and his brother Bernard bought into Paull & Scollard Myrtleford, and in 2018 the company was purchased by Nutrien Ag Solutions, with Bernard and Dan still running the Myrtleford branch. Mr Ivone and his former boss said clients in the Ovens Valley are particularly hospitable. “The people in Myrtleford are beautiful, they stick by us 100 per cent,” Mr Ivone said. “I've had a great career and still love the job and still love getting up going to work every day.” He has seen many changes in the industry, including some initiatives trialled locally. Around the 2000s, he said their sales trialled an initiative called ‘Beef Only’, to help stop the prevalence of Bovine Johne’s disease, a fatal disease of ruminants. As infection is rare in beef herds, the initiative created a new herd category designed to ensure beef cattle had had minimal contact with dairy cattle, allowing them to be sold interstate. Mr Ivone also said the Myrtleford saleyard was one of the first to interface with AuctionsPlus, an online agricultural marketplace. According to the two cattle specialists, technology has been a significant driver of change in the industry, with today’s clients more information-hungry, seeking specifics like market variables and carcass detail. However, Mr Ivone said the cattle market in Victoria is really quite simple. “The one thing that drives this cattle industry is rain in the north,” he said. “If it doesn't rain in northern New South Wales, Queensland, our market’s terrible. “If it rains up there our market’s dear.”
