Today is the last time Landmark will hold a weaner calf sale at the 8.7 hectare Goulburn saleyards.
The complex has played a prominent role in the life and development of the local livestock market for past eight decades. Each year the saleyards sold about 45,000 head of cattle and 250,000 sheep.
Landmark Goulburn’s manager Daniel Croker, who has been with Landmark for 25 years, said it was unfortunate to see the yards that had produced so much history in the region, dissipate.
“Over the years, a lot of calves have been through those saleyards,” Mr Croker said.
“Three special calf sales there every year attracted over 10,000 head in three sales alone.”
In March 1929, not long after their initial opening, a record number of 55,000 head of livestock was sold through the yards.
In the 1970s it is also reported that significant numbers were sold there, with current owner, Bill Vowles, principal of Kattle Gear Australia, reciting memories from drovers who used to work the yards in the heyday of the 70s.
“Goulburn in the 1970s was huge. Drovers remember up to 40,000 sheep coming through the yards, backed up the next day with 5000 head of cattle,” he said.
Mr Vowles bought Goulburn saleyards in 2000, when the facility, then owned by the local government, was threatened with closure because of effluent pollution. By 2002 Goulburn was the fourth-biggest sheep selling centre in NSW.
He entered into the venture in the attempt to keep Goulburn’s hopes alive when it came to establishing a new selling centre.
But a lack of support, he said, from local and state government, provided no backing for his project.
“They completely neglected their local industry with lack of support,” Mr Vowles said.
In August 2016 a $15-million, state-of-the-art South Eastern Livestock Exchange (SELX) opened on 14 hectares at Yass. At the time many industry bodies said it would force the closure of numerous older saleyards, including Goulburn.
Mr Vowles believes part of the reason for the closure of the yards stems from the decision by agents and producers transferring their allegiance to Yass.
“Stock and station agents and producers have decided to take their stock to Yass. It is just not viable to continue to run the Goulburn yards,” he said.
“As a result of us appraising the situation, we have decided not to renew our EPA licence.”
He said it is good to see the complex at Yass servicing the area well.
“At the moment it is working very effectively for the producers and the agents – so that is a win for the industry,” he said.
It is believed the Goulburn yards were established in 1925 or 1926. Mr Vowles said at the time they were “literally just a paddock”.
The cattle yards were upgraded around 1960 in steel. In 1998 Kattle Gear Australia designed the upgrade of the sheep yards. “We did some significant upgrades of the scales and software over the years,” Mr Vowles said. “There was a lot of safety issues that we addressed, meeting not just our occupational health and safety obligations, but also animal welfare issues.”
Today’s final sale will see over 2500 cold country weaner calves offered through Landmark Goulburn.
Mr Croker said without speculating what is going to happen, they look forward to the future, whatever that new beginning may be.
“The next challenge is in how we market our cattle for these sales in the best and most cost-effective way for our clients,” he said.
With the hopeful prospect of establishing a new major wool selling centre in the city, one can hope it will be the start of a new era for the once-booming livestock centre.