| Ballarat the only Victorian saleyards selling pigs regularly after Bendigo pig auctions end |
PIG auctions have stopped at Bendigo, leaving Ballarat the only saleyards in Victoria that still holds regular sales.
Auctions at Ballarat are also expected to cease within two years, when the saleyards move to a new site that will not have facilities for pigs.
The only alternative will then be Pakenham, which runs sales only on a needs basis for hobby farmers.
A rise of big operators dealing directly with meat buyers is said to be behind a dramatic decline of auction sales.
“By 2010 the numbers of small growers had really declined,” said Glenn Rea of McKean McGregor in Bendigo.
“The market just developed and grew on the intensive level and pushed the small operator out.”
McKean McGregor was one of only two agents in Bendigo selling pigs through the Bendigo Livestock Exchange.
With FP Nevins and Co, they decided to cease sales this month after just 2000 pigs passed through the yards in 2015.
“We were happy to do this for our clients but it got to a stage where the buyers couldn’t justify picking up a hat-full of pigs to load on a truck and take them to where ever they needed to go,” Mr Rea said.
“It was a sad day but it was a day that had to come — if our business was solely reliant on the pig industry we would have closed the doors 10 years ago.”
Victorian Farmers Federation Pig Group president John Bourke said 95 per cent of producers did not sell through saleyards.
“We haven’t sold through the auction system for 30 years — you have to get with the times,” Mr Bourke said.
“Every producer I know sells straight over the hook.”
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