THE future of the 146-year-old Geelong saleyards remains up in the air, after a council meeting this week decided to work with other neighbouring councils in a bid to develop a regional livestock selling solution.
The decision has again reopened the debate whether a new regional selling centre in the area is needed.
The meeting also saw councillors from the City of Greater Geelong resolve to seek opportunities for savings in the operation of the saleyards, as well as to actively identify potential uses of existing land and facilities outside normal saleyards operations.
The decision marks the first stage of the council's staged withdrawal from the historic saleyards.
Much of the reasoning behind this move has been triggered by the findings of a recent feasibility study into the livestock selling centre, which stated that livestock throughput had declined over the past 10 years.
The throughput decline has also had a direct impact on income, with accounts revealing a loss in each of the past eight financial years between $49,266 and $193,876, with a total loss over that period of $1.08 million.
The study's summary also stated that while the site has heritage value, it only benefits a small portion of the municipal population.
Will Richardson, who is the director of one of the two livestock agencies that sell at the centre - HF Richardson, said he knew Geelong's time would come.
"We knew it was going to come to this," he said. "But we've been waiting for a regional centre to go to."
He said he'd been waiting for a new regional selling centre for about 20 years.
"The best thing would be for Geelong, Camperdown, and Colac to be put together," Mr Richardson said.
"The fact is that we need a bigger centre that can cope with about 2000 head - that will attract more buyers."
While his fingers were crossed for the decision on a regional saleyard solution, Mr Richardson also said he was concerned for the smaller producers located around Geelong if the saleyard does close. "There are a lot of hobby farmers in the region who will be impacted," he said,
Peter McConachy is a director, livestock sales manager, and auctioneer for Charles Stewart. His agency also sells livestock at Geelong.
"Numbers at the saleyards have been declining," he said.
"I think we only had 450 cattle at the last sale, and there were about 1200 lambs and 700 sheep."
He said much of the livestock had gone from that area, so the centre's drawing power had been significantly weakened.
"I think it's a pity that something shuts. But in the broad spectrum of doing business in this day and age, you need numbers to participate," Mr McConachy said.
"Bigger saleyards get more buyer support.
"If you were buying lambs, would you go to Geelong, or would you go to Corowa, which has 20,000 lambs."
Mr McConachy said he didn't think it was warranted to establish a new regional selling centre.
"I think Colac and Ballarat are sufficient for that area," he said.
Livestock Exchange Consultancy principal consultant Frank White also agrees that there's no need for a new regional saleyard to be built.
His consultancy specialises in saleyards.
"I think it's quite simple. Why on earth do we need to build a new saleyard, when Colac is just down the road?" Mr White said.
"They can accommodate the extra stock, and they have recently demonstrated their commitment to the industry by the installation of the roof."
Prior to that, Mr White said he had long believed it to be one of the best saleyards in Australia in terms of location, site seclusion, management, and general facilities.
"There's certainly no need to contemplate building another yard in that area," he said.
