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Our History
We are very proud of the achievements over the last few decades and are very grateful to all the people who have worked hard to make Rural Livestock what it is today.
THE HISTORY OF
1988 to 2022
Proud of the past. Focused on the present. Prepared for the future.
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1988
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1988
Humble Beginnings
The company of Rural Livestock Limited was formed by Michael Dryden, Leslie Clement, Ian Gazzard, Kevin Rowe and John Honeybone in October 1988. The first informal meeting was held in early September with Ian Gazzard appointed company secretary. The first official meting of the director was held at the home of Ian and Sally Gazzard at 1 Swithland Place Christchurch on 7 October 1988 and Rural Livestock was selected as the company name.
The company commenced selling at Addington sale yards on 15 November 1988 and was the first new livestock selling company to be established in North Canterbury since Pyne Gould Guiness was established in 1918. The company's first office was at 288 Withells Road, Christchurch in a small building on the property of Noeline and John Honeybone. The company achieved significant growth during its first year of operation so larger offices were leased at 24 Nelson Street, Christchurch.
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1989
Larger offices
The company achieved significant growth during its first year of operation so larger offices were leased at 24 Nelson Street, Christchurch.
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1990
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1990
Employees start lining up...
The company employed its first agent outside of shareholders in 1990 when Tony Johns joined the team.
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1995
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1995
First foray into real estate
During 1995 the company purchased shares in Whalan Real Estate and this relationship lasted until Whalan's merged its operations with Bayley's Real Estate at which time Rural Livestock relinquished its shares back to Whalan's. In 1995 Ian Gazzard retired and his share holding was sold Combined Rural Traders (CRT).
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1996
The company moved to its next premises at 1111 Blenheim Road, Christchurch.
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1998
Shares changing hands
In 1998 CRT was merged with Greenfields, a Timaru Company with a similar set up to CRT. They remained shareholders until 2000 when they sold their shareholding to David Barker and Sam Davidson. The company changed accountants in 1998 and David Barker, who was a director with CRT taking over as the company's accountant and become a director of RLL.
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2005
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2005
Expanding the business
Rural Livestock purchased the Timaru based company Livestock Marketing in August 2005, which was integrated into the existing business of Rural Livestock. In September 2005 Rural Livestock Otago formed with the original shareholders being John Faulks, Dennis Mullaly, Johnny Girvan and Rural Livestock Canterbury. Three years on this company has enjoyed tremendous growth and today serves from the Waitaki to Southland.
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2008
Staff numbers hit a high!
Staff numbers grew steadily from establishment in 1988. By 2008 Rural Livestock Canterbury and Otago employed 32 agents and six office staff, which included the first general manager, Steve Humphries, who was appointed in April 2008.
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2010
Rural Livestock Otago and Rural Livestock Canterbury merged. SW Real Estate was purchased.
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2015
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2015
New board member
Keith Sutton appointed independent Director.
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2016
Simon Forrest appointed CEO.
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2017
Stephen McCormick appointed as CFO. Jo Cullen appointed as HR | Health and Safety Manager.
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2019
M-Files
Innovation and technology is part of farming in this day and age and Rural Livestock starts to investigate a smarter way of managing the transactions.
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2020
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2020
SW Real East was sold to Property Brokers.
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2020
COVID19
The worldwide pandemic reaches New Zealand shores and we go into lockdown which severely impacts the operations of farmers and the trading of livestock. The team had to make significant sacrifices and come up with very clever solutions to carry on facilitating sales for their clients. The stock keeps eating, the market keeps on demanding and the trading needed to continue.
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2021
A new General Manager
Jesse Dargue joined Rural Livestock as General Manager in February 2021, having previously worked as GM for Peter Walsh & Associates Ltd (PWA).
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2021
Board appointments and Retirements
Fiona Mules appointed as an independent director. David Barker retired off the Board after 25 years on the Board.
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2022
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2022
Rural Livestock Trading Finance through Heartland Bank
In a ground-breaking development Rural Livestock expands their service offering by providing hassle-free finance options for their clients.
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2022
Executive Assistant | HR/H&S Manager
Kathryn Gray joined Rural Livestock in July 2022 to assist Jesse Dargue. Previously working in Corporate finance, her strength lies in streamlining processes and managing multiple managers. Kathryn also replaced Jo Cullen as the new HR | H&S Manager.
The company is very proud of its achievements over the last thirty four years and is very grateful to the thousands of clients who have entrusted their business to Rural Livestock over this period and we look forward to remaining a dominant force within the South Island livestock industry and in New Zealand.
We want to thank the thousands of clients who have entrusted their business to Rural Livestock and continue to do so.
We are committed to continue fulfilling our promise of integrity and honesty to you and provide you with livestock trading services to the best of our abilities. We look forward to remaining a dominant force within the South Island livestock industry and in New Zealand.
TESTIMONIALS
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"Rural Livestock do most of our stock business. Ever since the company was first formed, they have been our agents for pretty much all our surplus livestock... And we find them extremely good to deal with!"
Allan Paterson, Armidale, Gimmerburn
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"If we weren't happy with Rural Livestock, we would have shifted long ago. In this game, the farmer is very much dependent on trust. You rely on the agent to count things and to verify the weights when you're not around. We look for trust and integrity and that's why we stick around. "
Graham Family, Ahuriri Farm Ltd
LIVESTOCK LISTINGS
Beef
Sheep
Deer
