Saleyards key to beef cattle industry's growth

Stock agents have been part of the industry since the start of private and public trading, helping many pastoralists get started by offering financial assistance through stock mortgages.

With cattle numbers rising rapidly in the early 1800s - from 1044 head in 1800 to 1,894,834 in 1850 - there came the need for public saleyards.

By the 1840s, public abattoirs, known as slaughter yards, were established, with private auctions being conducted to sell stock.

In Victoria, regular stock markets were run in 1842 for butchers' stock, but the Newmarket saleyard at Flemington was the first significant selling centre, replacing selling in marts, taverns, inns, hotel yards and boarding stables.

Newmarket was operational in 1859 and officially opened in 1961, accommodating 100 head of cattle and 500 head of sheep.

In NSW, the establishment of the Homebush yards in 1870, near the Homebush Railway Station, helped to consolidate 14 different saleyards around Sydney in the hope that producers would receive better returns with more competition for their stock and more agents able to attend.

Another stockyard was built at Flemington in 1882, where all cattle were classed by one man, Charles Hughes.

The Flemington yards (now the site of Sydney Markets) closed in 1967 after 85 years in operation, with the new saleyards opened at Homebush Bay, near the State Abattoir.

South Australia had a public slaughter yard in the Adelaide Parklands near Thebarton in 1841, with a boiling down works, producing tallow nearby, but the first public auction wasn't held until 1856.

In 1884, the Adelaide Corporation Yards cattle market was built just west of the current police barracks, with the area becoming known as Newmarket.

New abattoirs and saleyards were opened at Gepps Cross in July 1913 and an isolation saleyard was added to sell cattle from Central Australia in 1959.

Queensland sales began in Roma Street but were moved to the Enoggera Saleyards, located in the Brisbane suburb of Newmarket, in 1877.

They were held there until 1931, when the 60-hectare Cannon Hill saleyards were established near abattoirs.

More than 47 million head of livestock from Queensland, Northern Territory and South Australia was sold at Cannon Hill by the time the saleyard was closed in 1991.

By 1900 there were 8.6 million head of cattle and there were discussions in all states to move saleyards and abattoirs away from populated areas due to hygiene concerns, but also to build them close to each other to limit stock traffic.

World Wars and the Depression halted most big changes to the industry, and the herd size remained stable, with 9.7 million head in 1950.

In the 1960s came the decimalisation of the Australian currency, moving from pounds, shillings and pence to dollars and cents.

By this time almost every town and regional centre has its own saleyard.

Cattle were sold dollars per head (known as open auction) until liveweight selling was introduced in the mid-1970s with the weights being made available at the point of pre- or post-sale weighing, giving greater transparency for buyers and vendors.

This was one of the most significant changes to industry, according to Peter Baldwin, chief executive officer of the Australian Livestock and Property Agents Association.

"This gave a transparency to the market that wasn't there before," Mr Baldwin said.

"Before having scales, it was down to the ability of the stockperson to predict weights.

"They really had to back their ability in the understanding of the country they came off, the breed of the cattle they were, and how they'd yield, but it was a beautiful battle of wits between local knowledge and livestock knowledge.

"Now, of course, vendors have scales at home so by the time the cattle are off their property they have more certainty about their weight and what returns will be depending on the market."

The cattle crash of 1972-73 had a devastating effect on producers, but the market gradually improved and the focus shifted to better genetics and breeding for weight and resilience.

"We used to see a lot more heavier trade cattle, butcher's calves for the vealer market, and a distinct bullock market, and there were producers who just wanted to produce heavy bullocks," Mr Baldwin said.

"Selling to the processor over the hook has taken a lot of that out, and also the trend of selling to feedlots and not finishing cattle.

"It was quite a predictable market in the way that the producers would turn off their cattle, but now we're using market trends to look for more opportunities for vendors and producers are more willing to work in different markets.

"They also have access to instantaneous market reports and weather forecasts, so they're able to meet different markets depending on the season and what the market is doing."

The mobile phone has changed the way agents work, removing the need to use phone exchanges, fax streams, and having to call all clients at night to report prices.

"The relationship with the client was very much a phone call at night, so the instantaneous communication via text or email has changed the agency business.

"Most vendors didn't attend their sale and waited with baited breath to get their prices so you'd ring the prices through, so you were their commentator, counsellor and advisor, explaining the whos, whats and whys about the market that day.

"I was under strict instruction from my father (agent Brian Baldwin) to ring at a particular time and wait for the lady at a particular telephone exchange to put the phone down, hear it click so she didn't listen to it, otherwise it'd be common knowledge on the school bus the next day.

"Now, with the market reporting and online selling platforms, you know exactly what everyone's steers made."

Online sales began in 1986 when the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation, in conjunction with the University of New England, developed CALM (Computer Aided Livestock Marketing), now known as AuctionsPlus.

The first interfaced sale was run in April 1986, at Jeogla Station, east of Armidale, NSW.

It took a while to become established, but technology - mobile phones, internet reception, computers and tablets - soon caught up, and now producers can buy and sell from the comfort of their home or ute.

Agents can be in one place, but buying and selling through multiple centres on the same day.

"CALM was just getting under way when I started my career and the growth of online selling has come to the fore, with technology and connectivity playing a big role, and now we have multiple platforms available, with most livestock sales - stud and commercial - being livestreamed," Mr Baldwin said.

Another big improvement for agents was the introduction of Stockinsure insurance in August 1994.

"Trade credit has been one of the greatest innovations in our business to protect the livelihoods of our agents, because the agent takes mercantile risk for the livestock," Mr Baldwin said.

"Innovative agents like Don Wright came up with an idea to start a scheme to protect agents, because before, they were taking a risk for the client and could just get a letter in the mail to say the processor was going broke and wouldn't be paying them.

"And now we also have stock transit insurance, which is another big change, which gives vendors peace of mind in the consignment of their animals.

"I am enormously proud of the leaps and bounds our industry has taken in improving animal welfare outcomes and the sincere approach to doing better."

The past two decades have seen big upgrades to saleyards, with increased capacity; safer, more efficient yards; soft flooring; raised walkways, and roofs over most cattle yards.

More facilities have also been privatised, moving away from being owned and run by local councils.

While they don't spend as much time on the phone now, agents still have to remain as close as ever to their clients.

"When I started, agent networks were everything and the NSW stock and station agents guide was on the wall," Mr Baldwin said.

"It was a wonderful display of entrepreneurship for an agent to put on a sale - getting enough cattle, then ringing buyers to make sure they'd attend, then advertise in The Land and other regional newspapers.

"Now, it's a group text, reply-all emails, then it's in The Land and advertised on saleyard websites and social media.

"But while technology has made the job easier, the industry still relies on strong relationships to market cattle."