THE WA Meat Industry Authority (WAMIA) is sticking to its guns with the cattle sale date change scheduled to begin from Wednesday July 4, at the Muchea Livestock Centre (MLC), despite opposition from livestock agents.
WAMIA decided to change its Muchea cattle sale from Monday to Wednesday and sent a letter to stakeholders dated March 19, informing them of the decision.
WAMIA chief executive officer Andrew Williams and board chairman David Lock met with Farm Weekly last week to explain the details of the decision, which they hadn’t taken lightly and was made after many discussions with agents and stakeholders over the past few years.
While they knew the decision wouldn’t suit everybody, they hoped to be able to work with all parties involved to ensure a smooth transition.
They said the change was mainly for financial reasons and would save WAMIA about $500,000 a year in labour costs, which were difficult to reign in due to the nature of staff working on Sundays and outside the hours of 7am and 6pm, which attracted government awarded penalty rates.
WAMIA employs staff on a full-time, part-time and also a casual basis and has found it hard to attract experienced staff with livestock handling skills who were willing to work on a Sunday.
By changing to a Wednesday sale the staff numbers would be reduced and agents would be able to take up the role of drafting and presenting their client’s stock for sale.
WAMIA would apply a $5 sale-handling fee reduction at Muchea to cater for the changes.
It believes this approach will be better for agents and suppliers, who would attract better prices when cattle were presented with more detail and thought.
WAMIA’s letter stated that “changing to a Wednesday cattle sale has the least impact on the rest of the livestock industry while delivering significant cost reductions for all participants”.
“Unless agreed otherwise, it is proposed that agents undertake the presentation (receival, drafting and penning) of their own cattle from the same date,” the letter said.
While the date of cattle sales will change at Muchea, sheep sales will remain on Tuesdays.
The final Monday sale for the year will be held on June 25.
Livestock agents responded collectively in opposition to the change and questioned WAMIA’s legal ability to make it.
WAMIA has this week responded in writing that it does have the ability to make the change and was acting within State government regulations.