Council wants business case to resurrect Geelong livestock saleyard

It’s been about four years since the Geelong saleyards at North Geelong shut for good but now the council wants a business case to resurrect a similar facility.

A business case to resurrect a livestock saleyard in Geelong which would include a rural information exchange and truck wash will be developed under a move by the City of Greater Geelong.

The business case for the project, that will cost more than $4m, will be developed after council’s administrators shut down a saleyard at North Geelong in 2017.

About 3ha of land would be needed for the next iteration of a Geelong saleyard which could cater for 120 cattle and 100 sheep per sale, a council meeting heard this year.

Following work with an advisory committee, council moved this week to develop a business case that will cost about $200,000.

The business case will examine the cost of operating a saleyard, and operating and ownership models.

Last sheep sale at Geelong saleyards in 2017. Picture: Peter Ristevski

A site for the saleyard is yet to be determined but a council report found council-owned land for the facility was likely to be in the city’s north.

“No market testing has occurred to identify whether landholders on the Bellarine or other

areas within the municipality would use a facility based in the northern areas of Geelong, which has the most likely land available under council ownership,” the report read.

Councillor Jim Mason, involved with council’s advisory committee for a saleyard, said it needed to get on with advocating for external funding should the business case for the project stack up.

“We need to explore a suite of business models.”

He said the project had “consistent support” from community representatives.

“There is a tendency to have an urban centric consciousness … the rural sector is asking for this service.”

Auctioning sheep at Geelong saleyards in 1982.

The final sale of poultry at the Geelong Saleyards in 2018. Picture: Alison Wynd

Councillor Kylie Grzybek, who represents Geelong’s north, said council needed to show its farming communities it was an important part of the wider community.

“This is an opportunity to look at what’s possible,” Cr Grzybek said.

“I look forward … that this can become a gathering site for farmers to share information. We need to bring more farming back to Geelong.”

Councillor Ron Nelson raised concerns about the facility and said it could cost “people a lot of money in this town.”

Councillor Eddy Kontelj said the facility could provide incremental business opportunities.

The council meeting heard 72 per cent of Greater Geelong’s northern ward is made up of rural land while 56 per cent of land in the Bellarine ward is rural.

In August 2017 Geelong council, under the control of administrators, closed the 148-year-old saleyard for sheep and cattle sales. The yard was closed to poultry sales in July 2018.

In 2017 council’s administrators noted a 70 per cent decline in cattle numbers through the saleyards between 2000 and 2016.

An independent report also estimated repair works to bring the cattle yards to an acceptable standard would cost $2.9m, with the saleyards having already recorded losses of more than $200,000 in 2016 and 2015.

A plan to develop the site of the former Geelong saleyard at North Geelong was revealed by council in 2020 which included apartments of up to six-storeys and space for about 1300 residents.

Originally published as Council wants business case to resurrect Geelong livestock saleyard