Ring selling will stay at the soon to be redeveloped Swan Hill Regional Livestock Exchange, with a nearly $2 million upgrade set to to improve cattle flow and increase the speed of selling.
After a protracted planning and consultation cycle, the yards will undergo works worth around $1.94 million and will be carried out as soon as the selling season finishes prior to Christmas.
Operated by the Swan Hill Rural City Council, tenders have already been accepted with the majority being from local firms – Prestige Engineering, Polymaster, Laser Electrical, Darren Delmenico Building and Whitfield Excavations.
Regional Livestock Exchange co-ordinator, Pat Ahearn, said the idea to redesign the yards started as far back as 2013 with discussion about the future of the yards and the livestock industry in the area in general.
Ideas came forward about redevelopment of the yards to increase throughput and to meet modern industry standards.
Mr Ahearn said the final plan to retain the ring selling option was arrived at after much consultation with stakeholders, including vendors, and visits to other facilities.
He said the slow flow of cattle was a major issue of the existing system and affected the ability of the centre to cater for larger sales and increased demand.
VFF Livestock President and saleyard user, Leonard Vallance, said the plan was a great one for moving forward to modernise the facility and to make it safer.
The committee had worked well and the council listened, he said.
He said the upgrades were needed as cattle numbers through the yards had grown.
Swan Hill Associated Agents president, John Sawyer, said the work should “make the job a bit smoother”.
The retention of the ring selling was what the producers wanted, he said.
“Additional pens and re arranging the weighbridge will speed the process up significantly,” Mr Sawyer said.
Mr Ahearn said the big item was the weighing area and throughput with a manual drafting system and indirect flow into and out of the selling area.
The new design would have a 10-way pneumatically operated drafting with a 360 degree forcing yard fed from holding pens angled so that cattle were always flowing forwards.
Additional stacking pens would be installed prior to and after the two weighbridges and the selling ring.
“It will ensure a cleaner and easier flow into the ring – in one side and out the opposite side – in a direct line,” Mr Ahearn said.
There will be multiple “marking” pens post the ring to ensure space to allow selling to continue.
He said works also included the addition of twin gates on all cattle holding pens to enable cattle to be moved in either direction, safely, from the pen.
The dividers between pens would also have a gate to enable pens to be enlarged or restricted.
Mr Ahearn said works would also be carried out to the sheep ramps.
Three new ramps would be constructed to cater for larger modern trucks including B-Doubles.
He said the new ramps would be pushed back into the laneways and angled more acutely to ensure trucks did not block nearby roadways.
Additional work in the sheep yards would include concreting as well as the installation of 14-metre light towers.
Mr Ahearn said the lighting would ensure the safety of people in the yards loading/unloading or drafting stock – particularly during winter.
Mr Sawyer said the improved lighting would make operations during early morning starts safer and easier.
Work on the changes would start at the end of the selling season on December 6 with the critical work to be finished for the re opening on January 31.
Swan Hill Rural City Council Chief Executive Officer John McLinden said the redevelopment would improve safety and animal welfare at the saleyards.
The redevelopment is in line with recommendations from a committee that Council put together late last year in response to feedback from producers about original plans.
The $1.94 million project was being funded by Council and the Federal Government’s Stronger Regions Fund.
