The NSW minister for primary industries Katrina Hodgkinson was at the Forbes Central West Livestock Exchange yesterday to officially open the new extension of the sheep yards.
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The $220,000 expansion was completed in November last year and accommodates storage of stock after sale, prior to delivery to buyers.
The 120m x 90m extensions allow for an extra 30,000 sheep, bringing the total capacity of the facility to 70,000.
The expansion was fully funded by Forbes Shire Council and was campaigned strongly for by former Forbes mayor Ron Penny.
Speaking at the opening, Ms Hodgkinson said the new yards were a monument to the forward thinking of Cr Penny and council.
“This is a fantastic expansion program,” Ms Hodgkinson said.
“Full marks to Forbes Shire Council for having the foresight to invest in these extensions.”
Council’s director of engineering and technical services Ray Graham said the expansion will enable the facility to accommodate larger sales and cope with recent demand.
“Trends over the last 10 years indicate that for larger saleyards like Forbes, numbers are increasing and smaller players are starting to decrease,” he said.
“This is because major buyers can fill their quotas by visiting fewer facilities.
“This expansion will increase overall efficiency, increase capacity and place less stress on the animal because they will not need to pack the stock in so tightly.”
The official opening comes on the heels of $2.15 million in funding to complete the Northern Heavy Vehicle Bypass, which is expected to provide road train and B-double drivers with better access to the saleyards.
Mr Graham said both developments will make the facility more economical for sellers, with more stock able to be transported at once and held at the yards.
Still a future for yards...
While the stock trading industry has changed in recent years, NSW minister for primary industries Katrina Hodgkinson said she believes there will always be a need for face-to-face selling.
Online auction forums and other more direct sales between producers and buyers have emerged as a major competitor to more traditional sales.
Yet speaking at the Forbes Central West Livestock Exchange yesterday, Ms Hodgkinson said the role of saleyards in regional areas surpasses that of a simple business transaction.
“No matter what happens online, you’ll never replace fully the contact that actually coming to a sale can bring to a town,” she said.
“It’s like buying a house, you don’t necessarily need to see it but I think a lot of people would want to come to communicate with the sellers or vendors.”
