Tom & Mick: Livestock, Markets and the Power of Relationships with Michael Spencer

Michael Spencer has spent more than 30 years across livestock agency, corporate agriculture, cattle processing and pastoral operations, including roles with Elders, AACo and Bindaree Beef before helping build Adcock Partners.

In this episode of The Tom & Mick Show, Michael joins Tom and Mick to unpack what good livestock agency actually looks like, why Adcock Partners deliberately operates under the radar, and what he is seeing across cattle markets from northern Australia through to the eastern states.

They discuss:

Michael’s unconventional path through Elders, AACo, Bindaree Beef and into Adcock Partners  Why relationships and people remain the foundation of a strong agency business  Building a business around agility rather than corporate complexity  Why Adcock Partners has deliberately stayed relatively quiet and selective  How livestock agency has changed over the past 30 years  What good service looks like when clients span enormous distances  Seasonal conditions across Queensland and the Northern Territory  Why producer confidence can move cattle prices quickly  The relationship between live export and domestic cattle markets  Why live export remains critical to northern Australia and Indonesia  What Michael expects from cattle markets heading through spring and into 2027

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Michael Spencer and Adcock Partners

05:24 Michael’s path from Melbourne to livestock agency

12:41 From Elders and AACo to Bindaree

18:05 Building Adcock Partners and the business philosophy

23:34 What good livestock agency service looks like

29:48 Seasonal conditions across northern Australia

35:12 The cattle market and influence of the farmer