The South West cattle scene won't be the same come the end of the month, with well-respected livestock agent Alec Williams calling time on his 39-year career with Elders.
His unique tone and charismatic, witty approach to his auctioneering has entertained buying galleries for years at store, trade and special sales at Mt Barker and Boyanup, while his extensive cattle knowledge and professionalism was greatly appreciated by his clients and fellow Elders staff.
Mr Williams sold his final store cattle sale at Boyanup last week where he said he had enjoyed his career in the cattle industry with Elders.
He said with his wife Viv, they appreciated the support they have received over the years as they looked forward to hitting the road with their caravan in tow.
"Thanks to everyone who has been on the journey with me for the past 39 years," Mr Williams said.
"A lot of water has passed under the bridge over my time with Elders, we've had some ripper times, on and off the rail.
"Thank you to everyone for their support, my clients, buyers and fellow staff, Viv and I really appreciate it.
"It's been great fun at the different regional centres and I've made a lot of close friends throughout the State.
"We're not having a gap year, we're having a lap year and will be back in WA at some stage."
Elders general manager WA Matt Ericsson said Mr Williams had been an integral part of the Elders team and contributed massively throughout his 39-year tenure.
"An absolute character who is loved throughout the industry and highly-respected for his extensive livestock knowledge, strong client focus, solid work ethic and auctioneering prowess," Mr Ericsson said.
"To say he will be missed is an understatement.
"Thank you Alec for your loyalty and commitment to the pink shirt and we all wish you and Viv happiness and good health in retirement."
Mr Williams first donned the pink shirt in 1985 where he took up a traineeship at Midland and after 18 months was posted to Brunswick and worked under local agent Alan Evans.
For the next 10 years, Mr Williams worked stints at Bridgetown and Mt Barker and in 2001 the opportunity presented itself to move to Esperance as the local representative.
After five years at Esperance, Alec and Viv returned to the South West and from 2006 to 2007 Mr Williams took on the South West livestock manager role based out of the Bunbury branch.
In 2008, a livestock agent position based at Margaret River became available which Mr Williams took on with both hands.
For the past 16 years Mr Williams has serviced clients in the local and surrounding areas, while also putting his auctioneering skills to good use at trade, store and special sales at Boyanup.
Mr Williams said one of the best aspects of his job was everyday was different and brought a new challenge to the table.
"The fact that I got to meet new people, work outdoors in the country doing what I enjoy, which is marketing livestock on behalf of vendors to achieve the best price for their business, has been great," he said.
"The camaraderie with the Elders staff and other work colleagues is next to none, along with building great friendships with clients over the years."
Mr Williams has seen many significant changes to the industry during his time.
"When I started working for Elders, the majority of livestock were sold and marketed through saleyards," he said.
"There would be at least 15-20 butchers competing on the rail at a sale, but now we have shifted to less saleyard processor competition but increased grazier, feeder and shipping enquiry."
With a big shift in how cattle are marketed and sold, Mr Williams said the changes had been innovative and seemed to work well.
"A big percentage of feeder and store cattle still go through yards, which works well, and a lot of cattle are sold by weight and/or description via the AuctionsPlus platform," he said.
"It's good for sales to receive competition and buyer representation outside of the saleyards, and enables interstate buyers to purchase stock from WA."
Mr Williams said breeding had made a significant improvement with better genetics available to producers - in particular, Estimated Breeding Values.
"Feedback data available for cattle going through feedlots has been useful," he said.
"The slaughter market has also changed over the years, minimum and maximum weights have been lifted due to cost efficiency through the processing stage.
"Live shipping is also important to the pastoral and local domestic cattle industry, the China market has been crucial to some producers, especially in tight periods."
Mr Williams said the world would always need protein which would never change.
"We have come off the back of two of the best years I've seen in my time in the industry, into one of the toughest this year," he said.
"Although it is tough times, farmers are very resilient and it will turn around.
"In the future, due to Perth and WA being so isolated, I think we need to have more processing points to soak up larger capacities of not only local cattle, but pastoral cattle too."
Mr Ericsson said from June Jacques Martinson and Brendan Millar will team up to service Mr William's clients and while they have big boots to fill, they are keen and up for the challenge.
