DELUNGRA cattle producers and members of the Inverell Livestock Marketing Committee Kevin Ballinger and Ian Davidson have stepped forward to have their say about Inverell Shire Council’s call for expressions of interest in the running of the saleyards.

Council has recently resolved to explore the possibility of involving private enterprise in the redevelopment of the yards to the tune of $9 million, to bring it in line with modern legislation in areas such as animal welfare, OH&S and driver fatigue.

Mr Ballinger and Mr Davidson reckon the council has had its say on the matter, the agents have had theirs and now the producers should have a chance to give their opinions.

“I think they can look at improving the yards, without building a new set,” Mr Ballinger said.

There is definitely work to be done, but that’s maintenance, we think they could start at the top section and rebuild it bit-by-bit, as they need it and as we can afford it, and the biggest thing is that the charges will double under a private operator.

“We’re prepared to pay a little bit more to get the job done, but the council would be better off borrowing smaller amounts and doing the work in a piece-meal fashion,” Mr Ballinger said.

As Mr Ballinger sees it, the yards are still doing a good job.

“They’re still passing regulations and they have a good record there, so we don’t see it as being an urgent matter,” he said

“I don’t think a private operator would really improve on the numbers coming through the yards.

“There’s been a push to have regional yards built and the big operators get those and you end up paying about double to use them and more and more people will then go to other means of selling if that happens,” Mr Ballinger said.

Mr Davidson agrees and pointed out that the yards help the smaller producer.

“The big producers are not using the yards so much, it’s mainly the smaller producers, online selling has taken off over the last year and that’s why I can’t see a big increase in through-put and without that the cost of the redevelopment will fall onto the producer,” Mr Davidson said.

“I think the shire should just poke along for another few years and just do it as it’s needed, the yards are still quite good and they have been running quite satisfactorily.

“And People should think about this too, if they sell these yards the price of sheep will go up too, but the sheep producers tell me that they’re pretty happy with their yards,” Mr Davidson said.

© 2011 Inverell Times

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