Saleyards head online
The Covid-19 crisis is accelerating moves towards livestock sales being held online.
Nearly 3000 farmers have signed up to buy and sell animals through virtual saleyard Bidr, a subsidiary of PGG Wrightson.
Before the pandemic there were 950 people signed up, PGG Wrightson general manager of livestock Peter Moore said.
Now there are nearly 2800, as of the end of April.
The company opened access to the platform to agents from any company under a special agreement at the start of the lockdown, when saleyards around the country were closed.
Vendors using Bidr list their animals for sale. A stock agent then assesses the animals, shoots photographs and video, and assigns them a date and time for a sale at which buyers bid online.
The animals don’t leave the farm until after they are sold, which reduces stress on the stock and saves on cartage, Moore said.
Moore said it was too soon to predict how popular online selling would remain after the lockdown but he suspected Covid19 would change how people did business.
Last week, after the country moved to level three, NZ Farmers Livestock held live-streamed sales in real time at saleyards in Frankton and Stratford.
Cameras filmed the auctioneers and 156 cattle sold at Thursday’s sale in Stratford, which buyers could attend in person or bid online. There were online bids, but all cattle were sold to in-person bidders. Only 20 bidders attended the sale in person and strict Covid-19 safety restrictions were in place, NZ Farmers Livestock general manager Bill Sweeney said.
Donald Baines, of Carrfields Livestock, which uses Bidr, said Covid-19 had forced people to adopt technology.
He said rural internet connectivity had been a problem in the past but things were getting better.
After Covid-19 those who traditionally used saleyards would return to them but the online option would open the market, he said.
‘‘It will come down to personal preference.’’