NSW Northern Rivers online cattle sales power on during COVID-19 pandemic

The Northern Star, 5 May 2020, p.2:

Livestock sales at Casino and Tamworth delivered a total of more than $175,000 worth of stock to online bidders last Friday. 

This result was thanks to an increasing number of bids being made online via StockLive during the auctions at the Northern Rivers Livestock Exchange (NRLX) and the Tamworth Regional Livestock Exchange (TRLX). 

Blake O’Reilly, from Ray White Livestock Gurya, who purchased on behalf of clients at Casino, has been purchasing via StockLive since before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

He said there had been a growth in the number of clients watching online. 

“The number of vendors and buyers who are now watching and bidding online at StockLive-partnered auctions has grown significantly since COVID,” he said. 

“Having the online platform working in with the physical auctions strengthens the marketplace and gives a true price for the stock, taking the risk of purchasing. 

“The platform is especially useful for the increased number of sales using ring selling, which gives the purchaser full vision of the livestock being sold.” 

Brad Willis, NRLX Manager, said despite a planned Telstra outage in Casino and Lismore, the auction went ahead successfully, with 360 viewers, 23 registered bidders, 141 bids taken online, and 13 lots sold to numerous buyers. 

StockLive Manager, Libby Hufton, said the number of inquiries from saleyards across all regions continued to grow with more than 15 saleyards using StockLive’s platform. 

“We continue to see the number of buyers and viewers grow each sale we have at these yards. It is a credit to the facility operators, agents and vendors,” she said.

Richmond Beef has a gripe?

In July 2011 the Australian Government lifted its month long ban on the export of live cattle to Indonesia.

In August 2011 the Richmond River Beef Producers Association went to the local media, not to express concerns about this ban which did not directly affect the small group of producers in the Kyogle region, but to highlight concerns about Kyogle Council’s Draft Local Environment Plan potentially devaluing rural properties.

Thirteen months later the Richmond River Beef Producers Association wrote to the Federal Member for Page Janelle Saffin concerning the alleged flow-on effects from the now defunct Live cattle ban.

Then this letter to the editor appeared in The Northern Star 15 May 2013:

Irrational ban
Has the Federal Member for Page, Janelle Saffin, gone into hiding?
Our beef industry organisation has written two letters to Janelle Saffin, one in October last year, the second in February this year, regarding important issues in relation to the beef industry.
To date we have not even had an acknowledgement of those letters, let alone a reply.
The issues we raised alerted her to the flow-on effect that we could expect from the Government's irrational banning of the live export of cattle to Indonesia.
These warnings have now been realised, as the cattle producers here, and all over the country, are being dealt a severe blow, with prices well below the cost of production as the market is now saturated.
The very least we would have expected from our elected representative was an acknowledgement of our letters.

Kathy Day

Acting Secretary

Richmond River Beef

Now I will accept Ms. Day’s word that these letters received no reply, however I do note the following:

The market is not saturated solely by cattle which were not sold off twenty-three months ago -  these cattle were successfully withheld from the market until dry conditions in the northern half of Australia resulted in more cattle across the board being sold off to meat processors in the first quarter of this year.

However, Meat and Livestock Australia reports that this sell-off is not affecting all regional markets: In contrast, pockets of the eastern third of Queensland and NSW had well above average rainfall through summer, causing flooding in some regions and in the process building sufficient feed banks for the winter. This has, to a small extent, eased some of the pressure on cattle markets. 

In May 2013 The Australian  reported that an extra 20,000 to 25,000 cattle [will be] shipped into Indonesia from major live export ports such as Darwin, Karumba and Derby in June and that the flow-on effect of the early quota movement would be an extra 25,000 cattle sold to Indonesia this year, given the need to keep the beef supply pipeline full every month.

On 8 May 2013 the yarding of export cattle at Casino Saleyards consisted of a few pens of grown steers/heifers and a mix of cows from a pool of 1,584 beasts, which suggests that export cattle are not a large part of the local market.

It would appear that cattle producers in the Northern Rivers may not be as affected by any residual flow-on from the short-lived 2011 live cattle export ban as Ms. Day suggests.

One has to wonder if the Day family's association with the North Coast Nationals, rather than concerns over cattle prices or unanswered letters, prompted a return-the-favour letter to the editor in an election year.

Federal Labor MP for Page announces funding for Casino Saleyards safety upgrade

Saffin announces funding for upgrade of Casino Saleyards

Page MP Janelle Saffin has  announced Federal funding of more than $600,000 for a major upgrade to improve safety at the Casino Saleyards.

Ms Saffin said the funding, under the Federal Government’s Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program. will mean much safer facilities for saleyard workers and truck drivers who transport livestock.

““There is a total of $636,000 in Federal funding along with $159,000 from the Richmond Valley Council for the upgrade at the Casino Regional Livestock Exchange.

“The funding is for the installation of double-deck delivery ramps, non-slip concrete pens and race floor and includes all-weather roofing along the yards and gates and lighting.  We can all appreciate how important these improvements are given our recent weather conditions.

“The issue of safety for saleyard employees and truck drivers has been raised with me by local councils, beef producers and the trucking industry in recent years, so I welcome the new funding.

“I was among a number of MPs from rural electorates who successfully lobbied for saleyards safety upgrades to be included in the Federal Governments Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program,” Ms Saffin said.

“I thank Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Anthony Albanese for listening to the concerns from rural and regional Australia, and for responding to them by providing extra assistance.”

1 March, 2013

Office of Janelle Saffin MP
Federal Member for Page
Ph: 66219909