How technology will change the way livestock is sold at auctions

Trials have begun to introduce technology into livestock auctions, changing the face of saleyards. This is what the future might look like for buyers and sellers.

Lamb weighing trial at Bendigo. Picture: Jenny Kelly

WEIGHING lambs at saleyards, cameras counting sheep and farmers being able to log into prime sales to watch price results in real time.

Technology is the future for the auction sector, according to Mark McDonald executive officer of the Australia Livestock Saleyards Association, and trials have already begun to get it all happening and improve the system for sellers and buyers.

At Bendigo this week the first lamb weighing trial was held, working towards the long-term aim of being able to provide an average weight to potential buyers in pre-sale catalogues, and give feedback on stock performance to producers.

The trial involved ALSA, Agrinous which provides specialist computer and app technology to stock agents and saleyards to handle transactions, McKean McGregor Livestock, and Shearwell Data livestock systems which provided the weighing equipment.

Mr McDonald said they were prepared to embrace and try all types of technology to ensure the auction system remained valid in a changing world that was digitally and online driven.

“In the next five to 10 years we are going to see a lot more digital services in saleyards, and we have to start looking at all the different technology now to see what works and what is of value to people,’’ he said.

The first lamb weighing trial on Sunday night involved just a few lots so organisers could assess how scales could be incorporated into the pressure environment of truck loads of stock arriving for drafting and penning ahead of the auction.

It also looked at options such as individual lamb weights versus a total average, or sample weighing.

It followed a recent trail, also held at Bendigo, where mounted cameras using sophisticated movement technology were used to count sheep and lambs as they ran down laneways. It was held by the University of Technology Sydney.

“Such technology is already used to count sheep onto boats (for live export) and it worked really well in the saleyard environment and proved more accurate than people counting,’’ Mr McDonald said.

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