Mark Peters has decided it's time to hang up his auctioneer's hammer, put his feet up and let some younger blood step into his shoes.
Mr Peters has worked for 36 years in the livestock agency industry, 33 of which he has spent in the Mareeba Elders branch where he is currently the Branch Manager, a role which he will step away from at the end of this year.
During his career Mr Peters has seen a lot of changes and ups and downs in the livestock industry.
"I started in my 20's and now I'm approaching 60 and at the end of the year I'm retiring from my work life," Mr Peters said.
"I've seen a lot of changes especially in values, back in the day we thought getting 80 or 90 cents a kilo for bullocks was good money, compared to last year we were up to 385 cents.
"The introduction of the live export trade has also been very beneficial to the northern cattle industry."
Over his career Mr Peters has observed many people come and go from the industry and he has learnt a few lessons along the way, which he is now happy to pass on to his younger staff.
"You need experience to be a good livestock agent but the most important thing is looking after your clients, they commit to you and you have to commit to them," he said.
"The time is right for me to move on, I've spent most of my life in far north Queensland and this is my chance to get out there and see the big wild world and have a good look around Australia."
Mr Peters said one of the biggest challenges facing the industry has been getting younger people to come through the ranks.
"It's been challenging to get more people into our business," he said.
"You've got to have some youth coming along otherwise the experienced people will be on their way out if there's no one there, then there will be a void."
One of the younger crew coming through the ranks is Tania Comer who is the Territory Sales Manager for Elders in Mareeba and she has been working under Mr Peters for the past 2 years.
"I've always had a passion for the beef industry, I grew up around cattle and sheep," she said
"I worked out in central Queensland as a ringer but I wanted to climb the corporate ladder so I joined Elders.
"I started in merchandise and 6 months ago I moved over to livestock, since putting on the pink shirt I haven't looked back and I hope to retire in one."
Ms Comer said having Mr Peters as her mentor has helped her and her clients.
"Having Mark as a mentor has been phenomenal and trying to cram 35 years of experience into a few months is tough and they will be big shoes to fill," she said.
"The number of people that he has in his memory and their history and where they have been and what they have done, I'm really learning the interpersonal things from him."
Ms Comer said despite it being 2023, it was still a very male dominated industry.
"It's very male dominated and I'm hoping that my success will encourage other young females to get involved," she said.
"It's great when we give the guys a run for their money."
Another female learning from Mr Peters is Karen Bailey, who has been a rural products cadet for the past 4 months.
"Doing the cadetship is a great way of getting in the industry," she said,
"So far I have learnt a lot about the industry and I'm enjoying learning about fertilisers and pastures as well as the livestock side of things.
"It's also been great watching Mark and learning from him."
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