Future planning for saleyards
Horsham Rural City councillors have welcomed a future directions report for the city’s livestock exchange that aims to ensure its longevity in the face of industry challenges.
The report provides direction for Horsham Regional Livestock Exchange for the next 10 to 20 years, including supporting the transition to a mandatory electronic identification system for sheep and goats.
Cr David Grimble said the Horsham exchange was the fourth largest in the state behind Ballarat, Bendigo and Hamilton.
“Saleyards really are a true market indicator and will always have a role to play – and a role for Horsham, because of the nature of the stock that goes through the facility,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot of broadacre farming to the north and west of the city and those people require lambs for their stubbles very strategically throughout the year.”
Hosham Regional Livestock Exchange is the Wimmera’s major livestock-selling centre, attracting vendors from as far as the South Australian border and southern New South Wales.
Cr Grimble, who chairs the Horsham exchange board, said the future directions report contained a series of recommendations. Key recommendations include constructing a roof for the existing facility; adopting a specialist saleyard software management system; adopting an Outcross implementation strategy for the National Livestock Identification System; and closing the weekly cattle sales and considering acting as a transit centre for larger facilities or introducing a monthly store sale or seasonal feature sale.
“The board strongly supports a number of those recommendations,” Cr Grimble said.
“Among these was a recommendation that the roofing should not be staged and the board is indicating they would like to see a non-staged approach.
“We need to have a funding mechanism to allow a full roof over the facility and if that’s not affordable, then a staged process rather than just a small roof.”
The report shows constructing a roof over the sheep portion of the exchange would deliver economic, environmental and social benefits, including boosting animal welfare, human welfare and safety and reduced costs of infrastructure maintenance and cleaning.
“If the facility remains uncovered, vendors will be more likely to choose an alternate marketing option for their livestock that is better able to present the stock in peak condition and manage animal welfare risks,” the report showed.
“An uncovered HRLE will result in an uncompetitive selling environment compared to adjacent facilities at Ballarat and Hamilton.
“Once there is an obvious advantage in marketing stock elsewhere, the HRLE will find it increasingly difficult to maintain the strong market and attract livestock.”
The Horsham exchange hosts sheep sales each Wednesday.
The report recommended maintaining weekly sales but perhaps reconsidering the day of the sales, since it clashed with Hamilton sales, which competes for buyers and attendance.
Cr Grimble welcomed the recommendation to retain weekly sales.
“It certainly creates a lot of buyers and volume of stock to go through the facility,” he said.
“Very clearly you need volume to attract buyers and a lot of buyers require a competitive environment.”
Mayor Pam Clarke commended the extensive and detailed report.
“The livestock exchange is one of the most important facilities we have for our municipality and it’s really important for our economic wellbeing as a region,” she said.
Cr John Robinson welcomed the suite of recommendations and urged people to look at the bigger picture.
“The saleyards, the employment, the reputation adds to the bigger picture and ultimately contributes towards our wealth in this area,” he said.
“We talk about the saleyards and about putting a roof on it, but it’s kind of like putting a roof on a bigger area in terms of keeping our profile up.”