The agent has to be familiar with pricing schedules, recognise good and bad livestock attributes, know his clients' needs, and understand the subtle nuances of the bidder during an auction.
His clients and their families can also become his friends.
''I like the challenge and I like being in the saleyards,'' Mr Broomhall said.
''I started out wanting to be a vet but that didn't work, so the next best thing was to become a stock and station agent.''
He has been a stock agent for 49 years and a livestock auctioneer for 35.
Most recently he has been a dairy representative for PGG Wrightson (PGGW) and regularly attends stock sales at the Lorneville saleyards, near Invercargill, as well as at Castlerock and on farms.
''You have got to be a people person,'' Mr Broomhall said.
''You have got to get on with them, to relate to them.''
He entered the industry at 19, when he started working for Dalgety's in Christchurch.
He said in those days they might have 53,000 head at the ewe fairs at Addington.
''As a junior, I used to start at the office at 8am, and in the afternoon go to the saleyards in Addington, and finish about two or three o'clock in the morning.''
There are now more efficient systems in place, which cut down the time, and there are fewer stock numbers on offer.
''There are also more dairy cows than sheep and beef and with Mycoplasma bovis there are more sales of dairy cows on properties.''
There are dispersal sales, ewe fairs, and calf, bull and ram sales.
''Some days I left home at 6.30am and got home at 9pm or 10pm, if there was a sale.''
At this time of year, while clients were on holiday, he spends about four days a week checking on clients' cows being grazed on crop.
He said not everyone could be an auctioneer.
''You need to have confidence in what you are doing, and have a good idea of stock values, and every week they change.
''You get to know the clients, their bidding styles, and who is going to buy what type of stock.
''Everyone has their own way of doing it, 'bidding' and that makes it difficult.''
When he started with Dalgety's, there were about nine or 10 cadets in training, but now attracting new and young staff to the industry was getting more difficult.
''We don't have many young guys [and girls] coming to it [the industry] now,'' he said.
''They don't want to do the hard yards and the hours, and don't see it as a career, so there are very few of them.''
However, while there is a shortage of younger people wishing to enter the industry, PGGW's Ben McKerchar, at 25, won the young auctioneer of the year title in 2018 and the New Zealand Stock and Station Agents' Association trophy the same year.
