AS a youngster Glen Hamlyn would round up the sheep on his family's farm in the Wimmera and practice selling them from the fence.
He also spent hours looking over photos of broad-ribbon winners from the Royal Melbourne Show in the rural weekly newspapers .
So it was no surprise that Glen - or 'Hambo' - found his calling, buying and selling thousands of livestock at saleyards and over-hooks.
But after 32 years in the livestock agency business, and at least 2 million kilometres clocked up buying sheep and cattle from WA to the NSW Riverina and throughout the South East and Vic border districts, he has retired.
It was a complete shock to his clients, but the jovial character - who is in his early 50s - says the move has been carefully considered.
Glen says he wanted to get out while still "at the top of my game".
"My clients have been too loyal to me for too long to accept anything else but first-class service," he said.
Pinkerton Palm Hamlyn & Steen - the company he has built with partners and great friends Robin Steen, Michael Palm and former partner Peter Pinkerton, from humble beginnings - is now arguably Australia's largest independent livestock agency.
The company, which celebrates 20 years in business in October, has clients stretching from western Vic to the SE and further afield.
It also holds interests in Chay & Merrett, Millicent, and Spence Dix & Co, Keith.
Glen says it has been an incredible journey, with clients and buyers becoming his great friends.
Glen started his career as an agent at Bennett Farmers in his home town of Nhill in 1981 during the shearing strike.
"I had left school and got my woolclasser's ticket and was shearing at Broadlands, at Lucindale, when Ken Dickinson, arguably the greatest Merino judge ever, asked me if I wanted to be an agent," he said. "The shearers were punching on all weekend and I went to Nhill to become a stock agent."
He had moved to Hamilton when, in 1983, a role came up at Bennett Farmers in Naracoorte.
"The boss rang me on a Friday and said there was a job at Naracoorte. I asked if they had a saleyards and he said 'yes'. I've spent thousands of hours there since," Glen said.
Later that same year, Bennett Farmers were bought by Dalgetys. After five good years at Dalgetys Naracoorte, the chance to form his own independent business came through Neil Ottoson.
He wanted to put a livestock arm with his successful real estate business and that led to the formation of Hamlyn & Co in 1988.
About 18 months later, Geoff Wellington joined to form Hamlyn Wellington Auctioneers. After a short stint, Geoff went back meat buying and a new opportunity came with Michael Palm, who at the time was Dalgety's Penola manager. They formed Hamlyn & Palm.
In 1994, Hamlyn Palm & Co joined forces with Pinkerton & Steen - and the company has never looked back.
Glen said the early years presented plenty of challenges with escalating interest rates and an oversupply of sheep. The national sheep flock was at 180 million head and thousands of sheep were being shot and buried in pits.
But he is humbled so many of the clients from those times have stuck with him.
"The big companies dropped two agents off each that year of the drought. It was one of the things that helped set us up. It was always going to rain again and it did," Glen said.
* Full report in Stock Journal, July 17, 2014 issue.