WAMIA set to control Muchea

From July 1 WAMIA will be responsible for animal handling and sale administration services.

WAMIA chairman David Lock said LLWA, which currently provided these services, would then be phased out.

"We will wind up that organisation," he said.

"We will take over their computer system, but LLWA will cease to exist after a few months."

Mr Lock said Elders and Landmark, who were part of the joint venture with LLWA, will be "a customer and have a say just like any other customer".

"And they will have no more say than any other customers," he said.

"We will execute a service agreement with each of those parties, indicating what services we will provide and at what cost and what their obligations are."

The State Government-owned facility, which opened in 2010 and is run by WAMIA in a joint venture with LLWA, was originally designed to streamline operations at the yards and improve confidence in the operation of the centre.

WAMIA is confident that the change will benefit livestock producers, buyers and agents through increased trust and confidence in the smooth operation of the yard, however some users are taking the "wait and see approach".

Westcoast Livestock stakeholder and cattleman Phil Petricevich said he was initially pleased livestock agents were no longer involved in the joint venture but said the idea of government involvement in the processing of livestock was unsettling.

"We would have preferred that the government's agency WAMIA was not involved in the processing of livestock," Mr Petricevich said.

"It is my view it should be livestock agents who should be responsible for their own livestock."

Mr Petricevich also said he was disappointed that producers would not benefit from a fee reduction, with the termination of LLWA.

This comes as WAMIA stated the fees charged for services provided by LLWA would remain unchanged, with WAMIA charging the same amount for the same services as was previously charged by LLWA.

Mr Petricevich said given the assistance from livestock agents in the past 12 months to assist LLWA in making improvements at Muchea, he hoped the fees would be reduced.

"Whilst recognising significant improvement under livestock manager Darren Robertson, I am disappointed that yet again the contribution from the agents in the last 12 months has not been recognised," he said.

"For the last 12 months agents have been assisting LLWA, in terms of resources and staff on a Sunday with the preparation and penning of livestock.

"From the proposed efficiencies that WAMIA claim will eventuate from this change, we hoped we would see a reduction in fees.

"The reduction could have been passed onto producers - we are disappointed it has not eventuated."

LLWA has been in operation since 1999, providing services at Muchea and previously the Midland Saleyards.

The operations have previously been under scrutiny, with a number of issues being raised by industry in 2013 and 2014.

WAMIA have since claimed improvements had been made, however Mr Lock said this new change would assist with further improvements in the yards operations.

"The operations at Muchea are much more efficient than they were, but this will go further and ensure we don't have similar issues arise again," he said.

"This change has come about for clarity of roles, so people are clear on who is responsible.

"One of the issues we have had in the past, is things fell through the cracks.

"The main purpose of this is to stop the confusion."

Following the change, WAMIA will be responsible for all the operations at Muchea and will be offering current LLWA staff employment.

"LLWA and WAMIA have had trouble employing good staff, because we are unable to offer full-time roles," Mr Lock said.

"So we can be more efficient with the hiring of people and get better people."