The business of selling livestock is bringing more than just animals to saleyards across regional Australia.
Tourists are keen to experience sale days as well.
Hundreds of visitors tour the Roma Saleyards in south-west Queensland every week, where cattle sales are held each Tuesday.
“Today, for example, we’ve had over 200 tourists and we’ve had busloads of schoolchildren,” Roma Saleyards general manager Daniel Haslop said.
“We’ve had people caravanning around and we’ve also just had the general public who are passing through.”
‘It’s big business’
To understand the logistics of livestock sales, there is no better place to go behind the scenes than at Roma, the largest saleyards in the country when it comes to cattle throughput.
In the last financial year, just under a quarter of a million cattle were sold through the facility, for a value of $342 million.
“Today we’ve got 6,200 in the yards, a couple of weeks ago we had 10,000,” Mr Haslop said.
“The month of May, we had one of our higher months for the last two years of around 35,000 cattle … so it’s a large operation.”
Along with the animals, there is also plenty of cash flowing in and out of the saleyards.
“In big times … we’re talking $10-15 million in one day in a transaction,” stock and station agent Carl Warren said.
“So it’s big business — and I don’t think people understand the size, the economics in rural Australia.”
Visitors get among the action
Retired graziers from across the Maranoa region now volunteer as tour guides for visitors to the Roma Saleyards.
Lloyd Harth ran a cattle station between Roma and St George for 50 years, before retiring and moving closer to town.
He started taking tours at the saleyards six years ago and has not looked back.
“I got conned into it by a couple of the original tour guides that started up here,” Mr Harth said.
His wealth of experience in the grazing industry means he is able to give tourists valuable insight into what is really going on at the saleyards.
“We have tourists from overseas — last week I had two young girls from Norway … and we’ve had people from other European countries that come in and have a look around,” Mr Harth said.
The saleyards have been set up to allow visitors to get right in among the action without getting in the way.
“We get them down there around the scale area and they just become mesmerised,” Mr Harth said.
“They see the live auction and they say, ‘What did he say?’ [and] I say, ‘Well, when you’re buying, you’ll soon learn to understand what he said, because it’s costing you dollars’.
“I think everyone realises that what we’re trying to achieve here will be useful for the whole industry.”
A rural social hub
There are about 200 saleyards of various sizes across the country.
Ken Rogers, president of the Australian Livestock Markets Association — the national industry body for saleyard owners and operators — said in terms of the economic impact of saleyards, their value was unquestionable.
“Dubbo, for example, injects an estimated $74 million into the gross regional product for that region every year,” Mr Rogers said.
“On top of that, there’s the social benefit, which we’ve recently quantified through a study, that shows that saleyards are a hub for rural people and townspeople to meet, exchange ideas, tell their war stories, have their gripes.”
Sometimes, the socialising is a lifeline.
“When we have drought seasons and tough times, it’s a hugely emotional part of the industry at those sales,” Mr Warren said.
“We’re also counsellors … in those times of need, because it’s a tough thing, especially when things are down.”
Prices down on last year
The nature of the industry, which is extremely weather-dependent, means it is inevitable that there are big highs and big lows.
Mr Warren said that had played out at saleyards around the country over the past few years.
“Our average dollar value now [per head] on 12 months ago is less than $1,000,” Mr Warren said.
“That’s a pretty big shift in a 12-month period.
“However, if we go back five years ago, we’re still seeing great prices at present.
“I think going forward we’ve probably found, hopefully, the bottom of the market — and we’ll just look for a bit more rain and look towards the end of the year to … see some strength.”
Regardless of the weather, the sales must go on in Roma — and they do every Tuesday.
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