WANGARATTA Livestock Exchange is aiming to ease pressure off the local industry with a change of monthly store sale days for 2024.
Traditionally held on the first Friday of each month, the store cattle sale at Wangaratta will now take place on the third Thursday of each month this year.
The livestock exchange announced the change on Tuesday, which will take effect next week.
Exchange general manager Warwick Benton said the sales on Friday morning were clashing with sales from five other selling centres in the state and therefore placing further pressure on the industry to have saleyards cleared by the weekend.
“Transport companies were having trouble getting cattle out of Wangaratta on a Friday because their drivers were running out of hours, so they were having trouble holding back cattle from those store sales here on the weekend, it was just putting too much pressure on everyone,” he said.
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“There’s only one other selling centre in Victoria that’s got a store sale on the Thursday and I think that’s Mortlake.
“It gives us a chance on the Friday to clean everything up before we go into the next week.”
Mr Benton said the open air of hosting a sale not clashing with regional centres like the Northern Victoria Livestock Exchange in Barnarwartha, will give vendors from Benalla, Myrtleford and Euroa a greater opportunity to send cattle to Wangaratta.
The move in days follows the change in start time of the sales from 10:30am to 9am in May last year, which will remain the time of the Thursday sales.
Around 650 head of cattle are expected to be yarded for the first of the Thursday store monthly sale on January 19.
The livestock exchange will then host the feature blue ribbon steer and heifer weaner sales on January 31 and February 2 respectively, to display some of the finest bred cattle from the rural city.
