George Purves, right, with Simon Brown, who leads the Galbraith rural and residential sales and lettings team.

As we embark on the next chapter of Scotland's leading livestock auctioneers with United Auctions' new management team having taken the helm earlier this year, we also celebrate a decade of successful collaboration with Galbraith.

It was in 2007 that the then CKD Galbraith acquired United Auctions' land agency division from Macdonald Fraser and, since then, the collaboration has gone from strength to strength.

The special arrangement ensures our 18,000 customers have access to a range of rural property services, from farm sales and purchases, to valuations, forestry, compensation claims and renewables. Clients hailing from the length and breadth of Scotland benefit from joint professional advice and shared local knowledge, accessed via United Auctions' eight facilities and the 11 Galbraith regional offices across Scotland.

It's a partnership that makes sense to our customers, we handle the livestock while Galbraith deals with the land issues and opportunities. Since the alliance began United Auctions has introduced a huge amount of farms in Dumfriesshire, The Scottish Borders, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Lothians, Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. The strength of the team at Scotland's leading livestock auctioneers is well recognised and United Auctions are trusted by the farming community to provide the best service and advice available.

Out alliance was further cemented in 2011 when Galbraith opened their National Farm Sales office at our headquarters, Stirling Agricultural Centre.

In addition to its rural talents, Galbraith has an active commercial property division, which advised on the centre's construction and handles the ongoing tenancy management.

The centre has been a major success since it opened in 2009, attracting national agricultural brands and vital rural services, including Carrs Billington, Ledingham Chalmers LLP and Johnston Carmichael, Agricar, Clyde Vet Group, independent insurance broker BCS Hendricks and independent finance broker Rural Finance. Many of these agri-businesses have since grown and taken more space, including Galbraith. So much so that we have developed two further office buildings as the main entrance at the facility is now full. The cluster of agricultural specialists located in the heart of Scotland combines with our thrice-weekly sales and special events, including the world-famous Stirling Bull Sales, to draw tens of thousands of farmers to the centre's doorstep each year.

The Galbraith team attends the centre's commercial and special sales, giving them closer access to their customer base, and the firm is a regular sponsor of the October Bull Sales.

United Auctions' relationship with Galbraith has been forged over the last 10 years through mutual trust, hard work, professionalism and a shared vision to support and service Scotland's thriving rural sector. We look forward to this continued collaboration for decades to come.

George Purves is managing director of United Auctions