ON Thursday Linton Bradley was hard at work at the Wagga sheep and lamb sale drafting up the lots to be sold. The day before he celebrated his 86th birthday.
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Buyers and vendors at Wagga would recognise his well-known face and he is present at the sales in his role as a livestock agent with RH Blake and Co most weeks.
In fact, his career in the livestock industry around Wagga and southern NSW spans more than 50 years.
He even remembers selling sheep and cattle at the old Wagga saleyards before the current establishment was built at Bomen in 1979.
Fellow livestock agents and vendors speak about Mr Bradley with fondness.
They say he works as hard as anyone else in the industry and always has a smile on his face.
Mr Bradley said the livestock sector was one which had given him plenty of happy memories.
And it was those happy memories and a day-to-day approach to life which kept him coming back day after day, week after week.
“I have enjoyed working in this industry all of my life,” Mr Bradley told The Rural.
“Tomorrow is always another day, and that is the approach I take,” he said.
Mr Bradley said he enjoyed working with livestock but it was the people who he met that made the job extra special.
He said as a rule the vendors were usually happy and the other livestock agents and buyers were good to work with too.
The sale was not just a place for livestock transactions it was the fabric of rural networking and a chance for a chat.
He said catching up with mates and having a talk during the cattle sale on Monday or the sheep sale on Thursday were highlights of the working week.
“This is such a big and important centre, there are always new people here to meet too,” he said.
“This place is just good for the industry and good for Wagga in general,” he said.
During his interview with The Rural a tourist bus pulled up and people filed off to inspect the yards.
“More people need to do that,” he said.
“I want people to know what goes on here and to understand the industry and what it has to offer,” he said.