EVERY company has its strengths and weaknesses which lead to peaks and troughs throughout the years and even decades, but for one auction company based in Central Scotland, it’s the strength of the workforce that has ensured its recovery and stability for the future.

Not many places can boast a team like that at Caledonian Marts, where a tally of 250 years of service has been reached by a total of six employees. That’s no mean feat considering the challenges the agricultural industry has faced as well as the firm itself, but the two head honchos, managing director John Kyle, and assistant manager, Ally Logan, are proof that if you put in the time and effort, staff and customers will stick by you through thick and thin.

Having amassed 80 years between the two of them, as John started on November 7, 1977, and Ally the following spring, they’re relative youngsters at the ‘Caley’, eclipsed by cashier Jim Renfrew with 42 years, yardsman Andy Young with 45 years, and Jim Dunn with 49 years.

This core team has certainly seen some changes over the years, and no doubt the type of stock they are dealing with is one of the most dramatic.

“The type of cattle has changed completely – a big fat bullock at that time weighed 550kg with heifers at 500kg, but they were all natives and we used to sell fat cattle as light as 350kg,” said John Kyle, who admitted he dreamt about being an auctioneer at school but got no support from his teachers, including one who said ‘he’d only ever shovel dung on his father’s farm’.

Yardsman Andy agreed, adding: “Cattle are getting bigger, wilder and faster – either that or we’re getting slower!

“There’s fewer folk around now and most bring their stock, see it get weighed and then they’re off, particularly the sheep guys, as there’s not the same workforce at home as there used to be.

“There’s less stock coming through too as 50 years ago we could have sold 250 clean cattle on a good day, but now it’s closer to 70 clean cattle and 60 cast cows.”

The type of stock may have changed but it’s those big moments in the auctioneers’ early careers that really stick in the mind – and the annual pre-Christmas turkey sale was quite a sight to behold for a fledgling auctioneer.

“I can remember, around 30 years ago, selling between 600 and 700, and sometimes up to 1000 live turkeys before Christmas. They, individually, were carried in to the ring, sold, carried out and tied up again – it was quite a sight!” said Ally.

Another memorable sale day for Ally was the offering of 440 draft ewes from Auch Estate, which sold in its entirety to the same buyer, rather than being split in to various lots as is usually the case with such a large entry.

For John, it was his first big calf price at the inaugural Premier sale that sticks in his mind: “I remember my first big sale was when a suckled calf sold for just short of £1000 at the Premier sale in September. Consigned by Archie Black, Tangy, it sold to Alex Herbage and went on to win at Smithfield.”

It’s not just livestock the dynamic duo can be found selling, however, as they are keenly sought after to sell at charity auctions where they enjoy winding the crowd up to the big bids.

The Caley Marts team has seen its fair share of challenges in the industry, too, with the BSE and foot-and-mouth epidemics being particularly hard to deal with.

John explained: “During the foot-and-mouth outbreak in 2001, when it struck in February the doors were shut and we were closed for business through to September.

“I travelled down to Cumbria to do a valuation one day and I can tell you it wasn’t a bonny sight – heads were as low as they could have been.

“The BSE outbreak in 1996 was another big challenge, but Caledonian Marts benefitted as we got allocated a lot of OTM cattle and the site was used as a collection centre. This meant we went from selling 30 cast cows to 150-plus, so it’s sad to say we scored a fair bit out of BSE,” he added.

While he was obviously affected by the disease outbreaks, it’s a slightly different challenge that has faced cashier Jim over the years and that’s getting to grips with paperwork and the move from paper records to computer records.

“It was quite a test when we changed to the computer system and very different to the hand-written records we had before,” he explained.

“It’s meant we have a bigger team now, but there were no passports back then so things were slightly easier.”

It was well documented at the time the struggles the company was going through and the resulting change of ownership, but both John and Ally haven’t looked back. They do, however, admit they’d like more time for the auctioneering job itself as at the current auctioneer employee list includes just themselves and three trainees.

“In the first year of the new ownership, the company made £113,000 profit and our operating profit rose by more than 70% for the most recent financial year, which ended in March,” pointed out John.

“I’m gobsmacked at the support we’ve been getting. More than 400 folk turned up at the first stakeholders meeting and the majority of our customers stood by us, which is very humbling.”

So for now, with ongoing improvements taking place at the Millhall site, it’s business as usual for the busy Caledonian Marts team as they look forward to adding another few decades to their long service tallies.