WARRNAMBOOL Stock Agents Association secretary Gerald Madden believes the saleyards site in Caramut Road has only a 10 to 15-year life before increasing pressure from residential development on its perimeter forces it to move.
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That opinion might seem surprising for a man who was a passionate supporter in the stock agents’ recent successful battle with Warrnambool City Council (WCC) to have the saleyards retained at its present site.
But Mr Madden, speaking in his final month after a 33-year stint as stock agents association secretary, said while he believed the saleyards would have to eventually move, it should move to a site close to Warrnambool because of the economic benefits they bring to the city.
He said the new saleyards “should not be hived off to another regional location” as appeared likely under the proposal for a regional saleyards put forward by private saleyards operator Regional Infrastructure Pty Ltd.
Mr Madden, a former Moyne mayor, said WCC and Moyne Shire Council needed to work together “from a strategic planning perspective to pick a site” for the new saleyards.
He said the two councils had shown they could work together to provide the Warrnambool aerodrome that was located in Moyne Shire.
Mr Madden said about 85 per cent of the cattle sold through the Warrnambool saleyards came from an area that extended from north-east of the saleyards and west across to Coleraine, Edenhope and Cape Bridgewater.
Speaking about his time as the local stock agents secretary, Mr Madden said he had seen the number of meat buyers decline, leading to the perception there was less competition from meat processors for cattle.
He said the number of buyers had declined not only because of consolidation of the meat processing industry but because many buyers presently operated on a commission basis and bought for several meat processors.
“This could be perceived as a reduction in competition,” Mr Madden said.
The increasing market power of meat processors has been a controversial issue this year, following an alleged boycott by processors at the new Northern Victorian Livestock Exchange near Wodonga last month.
The alleged boycott, which was believed to be in support of the processors’ call for the post-sale weighing of cattle at the livestock exchange, wiped between 20-30c/kg off the prices paid at the sale and has been slammed by the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF).
VFF livestock president Ian Feldtman said the boycott was another example of farmers being “screwed” by processors and part of the reason for the widening gap between rising retail meat prices and the prices received by meat producers.
