Saleyards are likely to evolve into community hubs, rather than remain as stand-alone facilities, as they adapt to changed conditions, such as the rise in online auctions.
That’s the view of Wiley R&D and Innovation director Brett Wiskar, who spoke at the Australian Livestock and Saleyards Association annual conference.
Wiley builds food manufacturing plants and saleyards.
“From our perspective, in 15 to 20 years, the saleyards industry is not going to look like it looks today.” Mr Wiskar said.
“There are not many saleyards in Australia that are used more than 100 days a year.
“The business model of those 100 days has to underpin all that unused capacity, so how can we do something about that?”
Saleyards needed to add value, in the form of data, information, centralised buying power or quality control.
“It can be all those things, but it can’t just be a roof and an auctioneer.”
Mr Wiskar said there were communities, all over Australia, which were looking for assets, which could be underpinned by other activities.
“Why are we not designing multi-use facilities, so they are not just used for selling cattle?”
Mr Wiskar said stadiums, such as Lang Park, in Brisbane, were used for sports and music concerts.
“If we take our saleyards, and apply a deck to the top of them, with a high rail on the outside, we have a one hectare, undercover, under lights, environment for a community to use.”
The could be opened up to schools, for cultural activities, or be used for farmers markets.
He said councils already invested in saleyards because they brought people into communities and provided an economic stimulus.
The could also be used to generate power, through solar panels, which could be used to run waste-water treatment facilities.
“When we go to our council and say ‘our saleyard is a bit old and we need to expand it’ or we need to do some environmental upgrades, or some wastewater or energy treatments, the trick is going to be designing and building them to be multi-use facilities.
“If it’s $7million to build a saleyard, but for an extra two and a half million it can be a saleyard and a whole bunch of other things for our community, you know the one you are going to get funding for, from the State treasurer.”
DEXA technology – which would only become cheaper and smaller – could also be installed at saleyards, which could become a hub for assessing cattle.
He said saleyards would continue to be challenged by online sellers, such as AuctionsPlus.
“They are not going to be the only player in the market, but they are going to be the most vocal player,” Mr Wiskar said.
“If they keep growing at 22 per cent, a decade from now, they will do something like on the verge of $4million.
“And that puts everyone who has a saleyard in a questionable position.”
It did not mean saleyards were going to go the same way as Kodak.
“The question is, how do we, as an industry, reinvent ourselves to make sure we remain relevant?”
