VLE buys yards site

The Victorian Livestock Exchange (VLE) moved one step closer to creating a super livestock selling centre to cater for the whole of the south west of the State this week. The VLE has entered into an agreement to buy about 60 hectares of land next to the Princes Highway between Garvoc and Terang in the Western District. The site is earmarked for the establishment of a livestock marketing centre.According to VLE managing director, Graham Osborne, the purchase of the site represents the first positive step in providing a modern livestock marketing facility to Victoria’s Western District. The site, about 25 kilometres from Camperdown and 50km from Warrnambool, fits the recommendations made in a report compiled by consulting engineers, Armin Huefner and Associates. Commissioned earlier this year by Corangamite Shire- the owner and operator of the Camperdown saleyards- the report concluded that the current Camperdown saleyards were unviable due to the cost of waste water treatment. Such costs are set to skyrocket 400 per cent from $38,000-$42,000 in the past three years to $160,000 in 2007. The report recommended only one of seven proposed options was viable for the council; that a new regional saleyards be built 20-50km from Camperdown. The Camperdown saleyards are worth $5 million yearly and the third biggest in the state, processing about 70,000 head of cattle per year. The VLE meet with the Camperdown Associated Agents and Warrnambool gents on Monday to outline their plan and answer questions. “We think it’s a very positive move,” president of the Camperdown Associated Agents, Alister Nash, said. “The VLE is seeking a written agreement from both shires that they would shut their facilities once the new facility was up and running,” Mr Nash said. The planning process, to be submitted by the VLE, will take about 8-12 months and include cattle yards with bobby calf selling capabilities, a dairy ring and possibly a small sheep yard complex. For full story see this week's Stock & Land