As a young boy, Trevor Hess’s passion was watching auctioneers sell cattle.
For the past 33 years, it has been part of his job.
“One day, I overheard my dad saying that he was going to a cattle sale at Bell, so I got sick,” he said.
“But I got remarkably well by the time it was time to go to the [cattle] sale.”
Seven decades on, Mr Hess works for Meat and Livestock Australia’s (MLA) National Livestock Reporting Service.
It is his job to record what each pen sells for, who buys them, what category of cattle they are and how much they weigh, which he often assesses by sight.
“As a small boy, I used to get in under the auctioneer, who stood up on a platform, to try and see where the bids were coming from, but I could never find them,” he said.
Trevor Hess with his pet kangaroo. (Supplied: Trevor Hess)
“And even after 33 years, there are times I still can’t see where the bids are coming from.”
The information Mr Hess collects is used by graziers to decide when they should buy and sell cattle.
“It’s a very important tool for cattle producers and their agents to get a program together, whether it’s a selling or buying program,” he said.
“If they can get access to the sale data from the day before, it helps them in their decisions.”
Terry Ryan and Trevor Hess (right) work beside each other at the Dalby saleyards. (ABC: Lydia Burton)
Queensland has more than 40 per cent of Australia’s cattle herd and the two biggest saleyards in the country.
Roma is home to the biggest, followed by Dalby.
Trevor, an institution
While MLA has market reporters all around the country, Mr Hess mostly works in Queensland as the Dalby cattle market reporter.
Local livestock agent Terry Ryan said Mr Hess was part of the fabric of the Dalby saleyards.
“If the sale was going to start at 7:30am and Trevor’s not here, we would probably hold up and say, ‘Where’s Trevor? Why isn’t he here,'” Mr Ryan said.
“The whole industry has a tonne of respect for Trevor Hess and it’s because it’s in his heart to do the job for the rural people.
“He wants to be here and he wants to do it correctly.”
Mr Hess started reporting on cattle sales in the 1990s to earn some off-farm income during the drought.
“I wanted to do something that I liked,” he said.
Trevor Hess has to record the category, weight, buyer and seller of the cattle. (ABC: Lydia Burton)
Mr Hess said he had his sights on becoming a licensed auctioneer when a market reporter job was advertised.
“I thought: ‘I’ll give that a go. That will get me into the saleyards and I will take that on until something better comes up,'” he said.
“It’s been 33 years, and nothing better has come up yet.”
Riding the highs and lows
Having a front-row seat to the industry his entire life, Mr Hess has seen the highs and the lows of the Australian cattle market.
“I wasn’t in the reporting business in 1974 … but we were down to 10, 15 cents [a kilogram] then,” he said.
Mr Hess said December 2021 was the highest peak of the cattle market in his lifetime.
“We had yearling steers averaging about $6.70 with quite a few sales in the $9 mark,” he said.
“That would have been the peak of it.”
Understanding the cattle market isn’t just a job for Mr Hess; beef is in his blood.
Mr Hess has spent his whole life on a cattle property at the foothills of the Bunya Mountains, a place his family has called home for more than 100 years.
Trevor Hess at his family property near the Bunya Mountains. (ABC: Lydia Burton)
Mr Hess said, as a beef producer himself, the prices meant more to him.
“People reckon they knew what the market was doing by the tone of my voice,” Mr Hess said.
“When I’m going to report it down and when the market is up, they can pick it up in my voice before I even say the market has improved.
“It does hit home a little bit when the market is down because it is greatly affecting me.”
At 77 years old, Mr Hess said his time as a market reporter was drawing to a close.
“I can’t go on forever, but while I still continue to enjoy it and am still able to get out and they’ll have me, I’ll give it a bit of a nudge for a bit longer,” he said.
“I am pretty sure we will see [cattle sell for] more than $6 a kilogram before I retire.”
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