Abattoir, stock agents slam VLE decision to move Leongatha's prime cattle sale day

The Victorian Livestock Exchange owns and operates the Leongatha saleyards in South Gippsland and revealed this week it would move its prime and store cattle sales a day earlier from July 2.

Under the changes, prime sales will move to Tuesdays at 8.30am, while store sales will be held on Thursdays at 9am.

Up until now, prime sales at the Leongatha complex were held on Wednesdays, and store sales on Fridays.

It means Leongatha's prime sale will compete with other simultaneous fat cattle sales at Wodonga, Shepparton, Carcoar, NSW and Naracoorte, SA, and Camperdown.

Midfield Group livestock manager Nigel Vince, Warrnambool, said Tuesdays were inconvenient for the company due to the five other prime cattle sales on the same day across Victoria, SA and NSW.

The meat processing company is among the largest purchasers of prime cattle in South Gippsland.

He said the Midfield Group was consulted by the VLE over the plans to move the day of prime sales, during which the abattoir requested the sale remain on a Wednesday or move to Mondays.

"I don't have enough staff buyers to cover the markets and I won't be taking my staff buyers away from Naracoorte, Shepparton, Carcoar, Camperdown and Barnawatha to cover Leongatha," he said.

"We don't want it on Tuesday because there's too many markets on that day.

"Our preferred day is a Monday or Wednesday.

Mr Vince said the additional prime market would raise a number of animal welfare issues for the industry.

"We have to shift our livestock as quickly as possible," he said.

"Another sale on a Tuesday stretches our trucks to too many areas to get the livestock home to Warrnambool."

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Shepparton-based AWN Nelson Livestock manager Sam Nelson slammed the decision.

"The VLE have made the decision down there without any consideration to any of the northern saleyards in Victoria," he said.

"I think it's more disappointing for an industry point of view where you've got two major sales on a Monday, Wagga, NSW, and Mortlake, and then we have two major sales on a Tuesday at Wodonga and Shepparton, and it was just nice to have the balance with Leongatha on Wednesday.

"It's a bit of a concern for abattoirs now to house livestock and if they have to buy all their on a Monday and Tuesday at prime sales, how do they accommodate and hold them?"

Shepparton Regional Saleyards processes between 65,000-75,000 cattle each year, with an average of 1400-1600 prime cattle each week.

The facility also hosts a bi-monthly store cattle sale on a Friday, meaning it will no longer clash with Leongatha's weekly store sale from July 4.

Mr Nelson said hosting an additional prime sale on the same day could limit the amount of sales regular meatwork buyers could attend.

"I've been in Shepparton for 34 years and it's been on a Tuesday ever since I was involved," Mr Nelson said.

"A lot of the farmers aren't aware of it, but the agents are certainly disappointed and so will the farmers be."

Elders Shepparton livestock manager Andrew Kyle said it was too early to understand the effects the move in sale days would have on facilities like Shepparton.

"I dare say it's going to depend on what comes here from this side of the divide from Pakenham," he said.

"Shepparton's numbers will most likely increase, and with Koonwarra opening on a Tuesday for prime, what we might have anticipated getting, we might not receive now moving forward.

"We expect some of the cattle from those areas around Yea and up to Kilmore might come to Shepparton."

VLE managing director Brian Paynter dismissed suggestions agents at Shepparton were not consulted over the proposed changes to sale days at Leongatha.

He said a phone call involving himself, South Gippsland Stock Agents Association president Simon Henderson and Shepparton's equivalent body took place in late 2023.

"They expressed no interest in our sale days," Mr Paynter said.

"We went through and incredibly exhaustive process to consult the livestock industry including the vendors, the agents, the buyers, other saleyards, processors and transports.

"We covered all basis and came to the conclusion that these were the most suitable days for the broader saleyard community and the VLE."

Corcoran Parker director Kevin Corcoran, Wodonga, said the decision to bring the prime sale a day forward in Leongatha would have little bearing on the northern markets, but conceded saleyards owners needed to work together for the betterment of the industry.

"We do have some Melbourne processors who buy cattle at our sale," he said.

"Leongatha might think they are bigger and more powerful than us, but for as long as I can remember, certainly 50 years and as long as I've been in business, we've had a sale on a Tuesday and that won't be changing.

"It will be a case of who the buyers choose to support."

Mr Corcoran said the southern and northern saleyards often experienced peaks and toughs in prime cattle numbers at different times of the year.

"Our seasons don't really clash though because it's still like spring in South Gippsland, and they don't sell the volume of cattle we were selling in September through to January," he said.

"The VLE should have consulted more broadly with the industry... the industry needs to work together."

MC Herd livestock manager Alex Herd said a commission buyer who worked for his company was consulted about the proposed sale day changes, but Mr Herd himself was not.

"It's not the end of the world, the VLE are entitled to do what they want to do, and it won't influence our strength in the market if it is a Tuesday or a Wednesday," he said.

"The actual day won't make much difference, it's just spreading the southern markets we go to so we can get a different buyer to each market.

"At the end of the day, people worry about kill days, but one of the strongest lamb markets is Wagga Wagga on a Thursday and cattle on Monday, so it isn't the day that affects the prices, it's the quality that matters."