Opened for business on May 19, 1997, more than 20 million sheep and lambs and some 300,000-plus cattle have since passed through the Huntly-Bendigo yards after clocking up an amazing 135 years of history at its former Charleston Road site, located on the outer fringe of the Bendigo CBD.

Then Bendigo stock agents president, Mick Crapper this week said that looking back it was the perfect time for that move to be made. 

“It was a time of council amalgamations, when government-appointed commissioners ran five surrounding municipalities, and the crown land where the former saleyards sat was sold to the Education Department, and the resultant money plus some additional government funds were granted towards the purchase of new land and the building of the new yards all at a cost of $5.5 million,” he said.

“It has since grown to become an essential business for both the Bendigo community and the livestock industry as a major barometer market.

“We could have built things a bit different, with a bigger budget – the likes of a roof overhead  –  but generally it has all panned out well and the yards worked well with its flow-through design.”

As Victoria’s second-largest sheep saleyards, consistently drawing stock from the the Mallee, Wimmera, northeast and Gippsland as well as NSW and Tasmania, Bendigo saleyards has set a number of records along the way. 

It was one of the first sheep, cattle and pigs saleyards to become accredited under NSQA and EU systems in 2000.  

Its reputation as a barometer market has seen record prices set dating back to June 21, 2004, when a national high of $192.10 was paid for lambs.

Bendigo is also home to some of the industry’s longest servicing privately-owned stock agency businesses. Six agency firms – three private and three corporate – continue to operate harmoniously from the centre which on one occasion, in September 2002, cleared its largest yarding of 69,000 sheep and lambs in yards initially designed to cater for less than 25,000 head.

Although not rated highly for its cattle numbers – largest sale, 1700 head, September 2002 – Bendigo, to its credit, was one of the first saleyards in Victoria to roll out NLIS for cattle and will continue to investigate options for the roll out of NLIS sheep and goats.

While these plans are not yet ready to lay on the table, Bendigo saleyard manager Kerrie Crawly said there was a lot learnt from a recent study tour taken to Britain and Europe.