Leongatha emerging as one of the nation’s biggest saleyards

One saleyard is emerging as the biggest in Victoria and is on track to become one of the nation’s powerhouse selling centres.

Leongatha is emerging as Victoria’s cattle selling powerhouse after the closure of the Pakenham yards in June this year.

And July to November totals show the 107,941 sold is higher than previous combined record tallies when both centres were selling.

Pakenham’s yards closed earlier this year after operating at the site for 25 years.

It caused consternation from many producers who used the facility to sell their cattle, but it seems Leongatha has picked up at least part of the slack.

Victorian Livestock Exchange managing director Brian Paynter said the last time VLE recorded July to November figures close to this year’s tally was in 2015-2016, and it included sales from both Pakenham and Leongatha.

He said it was still early days with the transition away from Pakenham to a larger, single

Leongatha sale facility.

“Leongatha sale results speak for themselves, with high quality and large numbers selling to dearer rates when compared to other markets,” Mr Paynter said.

“Time will be the best judge of whether VLE Leongatha is the chosen saleyard for the bulk of the cattle previously sold at Pakenham and I think for an accurate comparison we need at least a year’s worth of data before a clear trend emerges.

“However, we know cattle are coming to Leongatha from interstate and Victoria’s Western District and bigger numbers always attract plenty of buyers.”

The major source of cattle for the Leongatha yards remains South Gippsland, with about 44 per cent of the livestock sourced locally.

Mr Paynter said supply from the Wellington Shire had surged, while the numbers sourced from areas closer to Pakenham had increased at Leongatha.

“While there’s been an uptick in livestock sourced from West Gippsland, VLE data suggests that not all cattle previously sold through Pakenham have necessarily moved across to

the Leongatha facility,” he said.

Leongatha Stock Agents Association secretary and Elders Korumburra/Leongatha livestock manager Michael Foote said the yards were coping at the moment with the bigger numbers.

But he said the real test would come when yarding sizes increase.

“We are having two and three sales a week here, and that’s a lot of stock,” Mr Foote said.

“Usually, the peak of numbers comes from March until May, where we see a lot of fat cattle and also chopper cows.

“That is when we will see how the yards will cope.”

In the 2023/2024 financial year, Leongatha yarded 159,496 cattle or 16.5 per cent of all sold in Victoria to make it the state’s second biggest yards behind Mortlake.