The Mortlake Saleyards claims to be the No.1-selling venue in the south-west after closing the gap in 12-month throughput figures to just a handful of cattle.
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Western Victorian Livestock Exchange at Mortlake saleyards manager Tim Nowell said the Warrnambool yards had "four or five" more sales in January.
"If we were comparing apples to apples we would be in front by about 6000," he said.
Asked when he thought the Mortlake facility would take over as the leading yards, Mr Nowell said: "We think we already are.”
He said cattle throughput was only part of what made up a saleyards, with animal husbandry, welfare of the animals, flooring, roofing and employee safety also crucial.
"We are trying to take every aspect to a new level, including the technology used," Mr Nowell said. "Our's is the newest facility in the Western District built around minimising animal stress and animal-human interaction. Mortlake ticks all the boxes," he said.
Warrnambool saleyards on Friday confirmed throughput from January last year to January this year was 46,630 prime cattle, 18,672 store cattle and 2324 dairy cattle, giving it a total of 67,626 cattle.
Mr Nowell released new figures which showed that from January 21 last year to January 21 this year throughput was 67,530 - just 96 head of cattle behind Warrnambool.
The new figures included 1647 achieved through two dairy sales and one bull sale.
Mr Nowell said that between 10 and 16 buyers for meat companies attended weekly prime markets on Mondays while there was an average of between 65 and 70 buyers cards registered for store sales.
