Roma Saleyards beefed up and open for business

The Roma Saleyards will lead the industry with new state of the art facilities following a multimillion-dollar upgrade.

UPGRADE: The Roma Saleyards new facility is now open for business following a multimillion-dollar upgrade.

THE Maranoa is set to lead the beef industry to the future following a multimillion-dollar upgrade to Roma Saleyards, including state of the art technology and an unlikely pairing with tourism.

The renovations were revealed at the official opening of the new multipurpose facility on Australia Day by Senator James McGrath, Ann Leahy MP, David Littleproud MP, Maranoa Regional Council Mayor Tyson Golder and Councillor Peter Flynn.

The $8.6 million upgrade features a new state of the art bull selling arena with full video selling facilities and TV screens for sellers to be part of the action, a new 103 seat canteen and new office building to replace the original 50 year old building with offices and a meeting room. A 93 bay carpark and new truck parking lot were also added.

“It’s very much upgraded facilities as far as water, sewerage and infrastructure is concerned … in that expenditure we’ve certainly covered a lot of territory,” Maranoa Regional Council Councillor Peter Flynn said. As Australia’s largest beef saleyards, Cr Flynn, portfolio chair of the saleyards, said the renovations reflect a commitment to providing state of the art facilities for agents and producers alike.

“The Roma Saleyards have in the last few years been the top selling centre in Australia for store cattle and I think we wanted to make sure we kept ahead of the times and we were able to link with tourism,” he said. “We believe we’re giving the producers every opportunity to be able to sell through the Roma Saleyards.

“It’s long been recognised Roma Saleyards on their Tuesday store cattle sale set the benchmark for prices in Australia for that week.”

The Australian Government committed $3.9 million to the project through the Building Better Regions Fund, with an additional $3.6 million contributed by the Queensland Government’s Building Our Regions program.

One of the major improvements to the Roma Saleyards was the opening of the multi purpose facility and interpretative centre which will act as an educational and tourism hub to showcase the Maranoa’s beef industry.

The success of the Roma Saleyards tours was the catalyst for the interpretative centre, however the link between tourism and the saleyards was identified back in 2003.

“In the last couple of years we’ve had our numbers, particularly in the grey nomad season, up around 4000 people taking part in those saleyards tours and that gives them the opportunity to have a look to see what goes on sale day in the selling area,” Mr Flynn said. “But doesn’t give you too much of an idea on how the cattle get to the yards, where they come from and what the situation is in regards to the agricultural industry in the Maranoa area and that was the idea behind that.”

The interpretative centre aims to fill that knowledge gap with videos exploring all aspects from day one of a beast’s life, through to their arrival at the saleyards. The centre is open daily from 8.30am to 5pm and is fully automated so visitors can walk through the different stations.