Saleyards ramp up support for community

Biggenden Saleyards owner Stephanie Whitaker gave an update on the $3.7 million saleyards redevelopment at the North Burnett Agricultural Network Meeting.

Biggenden Saleyards owner Stephanie Whitaker gave an update on the $3.7 million saleyards redevelopment at the North Burnett Agricultural Network Meeting in November 2018.

BIGGENDEN Saleyards owner Stephanie Whitaker believes saleyards are not only a great driver for the economy of rural towns, but a crucial meeting place that unites a community.

At the final North Burnett Agricultural Network Meeting of 2018 she announced they were almost halfway through the $3.7 million redevelopment of the saleyards, with the majority of cattle handling infrastructure complete.

Yet to be complete are 390 selling pens, new weigh bridges set to be installed in December, and a single-deck loading ramp.

"It's good seeing it all come together and it can't happen fast enough now,” Mrs Whitaker said.

"We've already been using some of the new facilities and it's been really good to know we did the right thing because you can just see the impact with the cattle- it's quieter, they feed through with much less stress, and it's less stressful on the workers as well.”

The Biggenden saleyards from above.

Mrs Whitaker said the saleyards often saw service providers visiting on sale days to reach out to the community.

She's looking forward to having an improved venue to facilitate this.

"Whether that's a community health nurse doing blood pressure checks, Lifeline councillors checking in with people or it could be around natural resource management - there are all sorts of providers who come down so they can connect with people,” she said.

"But the saleyards are also about people connecting with each other as well, and we've especially seen that in times that are really tough.

"It's been great to see people coming out and meeting their friends and talking about what has happened when they need support.”

Mrs Whitaker said she gave an update on the development at the network evening because she wanted to be as transparent as possible with where the money was being spent and how the community would benefit from the project.

"We received government funding so we wanted to make it really clear to people that the upgrade is about jobs, we're also putting a lot of our own money into the development because we see a bright future for the saleyards in Biggenden,” she said.

"It's a good thing for our industry in the Wide Bay Burnett.”

Biggenden Saleyards owner Stephanie Whitaker. Picture: Felicity Ripper

Throughout the development the Whitakers have employed electricians from Gayndah, suppliers from Biggenden and local earth moving companies.

The completion date for the saleyards has been pushed back from February to March due to a six-week lag in steel manufacturing.

"Sometimes it's difficult because we're selling as well as building, we can't pull down some infrastructure until the other infrastructure is finished so it's a bit staggered and it can create delays,” Mrs Whitaker said.

She is most excited for the saleyards' steer sale on February 14, as they will be able to put much of their new infrastructure to use for the first time.

"We're pretty excited about that, it's a pity we can't have it all finished in time but hopefully we'll have a lot of new yards,” she said.

"We think the industry is very positive and if we can just get lots of rain over Christmas then the market should be really strong.”