Some 43 years ago when Marilyn Brazier was offered a job with Dalby private agent Tom Knox, saleyard protocol was certainly different where the girls were concerned.
Marilyn entered the agency game at 18, and while she attended the Dalby cattle sale in her role as the office girl, it was sight unseen.
“We would do all the paper work by hand, but we were definitely not allowed to be near the sale action,” she said.
Fast forward the next 40 years, and Marilyn is a familiar face as the controlling partner of Tom Knox and Co, owning two-thirds of the business with a staff of four.
“It was really when the weighing scales were introduced in the late 1970s was the time the girls could be seen, as we had to collect the sheets from the auctioneers and run them up to the scale house,” Marilyn said.
In the early 1990s Tom Knox offered her a third share of his business, as he wanted to semi-retire and take a lower profile. She became a hands on livestock agent.
“I really love working with cattle and always wanted to be a livestock agent, and I am grateful Tom gave me this opportunity,” she said.
Marilyn can be found in the drafting yards on a Tuesday evening, and up on the catwalk beside her auctioneer Nick Lowery, each Wednesday at the sale.
“We have a loyal client base and sell between 350 to 500 head weekly, plus paddock sales, with a client base to the South Burnett and Western Downs,” she said.
“Each and every one of my clients are valuable and I care about the marketing of their livestock.”
Marilyn, is married to stud stock auctioneer, Peter Brazier, and juggled her role as a livestock agent, wife, and mother of their two young sons, Tim and Steve.
“Peter was regularly away, so there was plenty of day care, child minding, and travelling in the car with me while they were young,” Marilyn said.
“When they were older they too got a lesson in drafting cattle at the saleyards on a Tuesday night.
“That lesson was probably a good one for the boys as they have chosen different career paths to their parents.
“Also Peter has been happy to follow his career in stud stock, and has also been very supportive of me as a livestock agent.”
