Every so often you come across a real character in the rural industry, and Datamars Livestock stalwart, Gregg Blatchly – ‘Blatch’ to those that know him, is one of those characters. A mountain of a man with a ten gallon hat, he was the very manifestation of the rugged Aussie stockman.
Now Blatch has stepped into retirement after an extraordinary tenure of 37 years in the business, clocking up 2.4 million kilometres across every state in Australia. During that time he has spent over 11 years in motel rooms away from his family.
Now the Australian technical specialist for Datamars is enjoying waking up in his own bed.
Blatch started out in 1986 with the iconic Sunbeam Rural Division, which manufactured and sold sheep shearing equipment and Dual Pulse Electric Fence systems, and later was the distributor for PEL and Tru-Test scales in Australia, prior to being purchased by Tru-Test in 2002, then Datamars in 2019.
Over nearly four decades, Blatch has seen most things on the road. During the early days on the road, he was uncontactable until he stopped in a town. He’s tuned into a lot of rural radio, rural reports, and when in reception, his hours have brimmed with calls to farmers, making appointments, and checking in with retailers, letting them know they are not forgotten.
So many interesting times have overlapped to a blur: big national field days, Beef Week, Primex, the AgShow and Farm Fest, top blokes, good laughs. A standout memory is watching David Fagan take out the 2005 World Shearing Championships in Blatch’s hometown of Toowoomba.
“I saw David shear lambs, 20 lambs in 20 minutes, not little baby lambs either. He would virtually spin them on the spot and the wool would peel off. He was pretty to watch. He was the best.”
On the technology front, Blatch says the agriculture sector is naturally conservative but the industry is embracing technology more and more. The introduction of compulsory electronic identification in cattle in Australia was a massive shift and an incredibly busy time of change.
He says weigh scale indicators are seen as basic technology now but at the time they were launched onto the market, they were a game changer, and still are for many producers with feedlots. Now he sees farmers using the remote WOW solutions and self-driving tractors auto-steered by satellite.
Large scale electric fencing jobs have been his sweet spot, making sure a fence is going to work with the big energisers to get power down and around the end of a fence 20,000 acres (8000ha) away. He says there’s good fence monitoring technology coming that way now.
Blatch’s advice to young reps on the road is to enjoy what they do, but also to respect work-life balance rather than follow in his footsteps, often making work the first priority.
The team at Datamars Livestock and all his industry mates have sent this open message to Blatch: “We thank you so much for your dedication, passion and mateship and we wish you a future filled with happiness and good health.”
“Whilst I have known of Blatch for many years it is only in the last year that I have had the privilege of working with him after he moved across to assist the evolution of our new smart farming business. He is a true gentleman, a wonderful family man and always has our customers at the centre of his attention.
“He has embraced technology, can see the future of farming and has been steadfast in his commitment to helping bring new technology to market, despite some of the challenges that often present in rolling our new tech to the outer reaches of Australia!
“We wish him well and are grateful for his years of service to our company and the huge value he had brought to the agricultural sector” – Verne Atmore commercial director Smart Farming – Australasia.
“Blatch, I want to thank you personally for the 37 years of service, working so many years is incredible and doing so with passion, dedication and commitment – gaining the respect and appreciation of the team and most importantly our customers. You should be very proud of that. I wish you all the very best for your retirement” – Daniele Della Libera CEO Datamars.
