It wasn’t patently obvious but the benefits gained from interfacing the Euroa weaner sale with Auctions Plus earlier this week far outweighed the negatives.
Run at a cost to vendors of less than one bid or $4 per animal, agents or producers who participated in the sale said it was comforting to know a much broader field of buyers were “at the ready” should demand have faltered on the day.
Auctions Plus market operations superior Tom Rookyard said in spite of no cattle being bought by the online network a total of 55 bidders were logged on, with six active accounts placing 70 bids to provide valuable safety net support on the day.
The Euroa Feature Steer Weaner Sale saw an exceptional yard of some 2,800 head, Mr Rookyard said. Bidding was fierce however local buyers out bid online buyers on all fronts he said.
The sale which was interfaced and live audio streamed with Auctions Plus online service, was supported well with users logging in from as far north as Bonshaw and Walcha in NSW; Jamestown SA, and one user from Southern Tasmania.
The pre-sale online catalogue had over 3,700 hits with agents and vendors taking advantage of uploaded assessments and presale information online one week prior to the sale.
Looking forward, Mr Rookyard said that Euroa has again commenced to build an online catalogue for its Feature Heifer Weaner and Female Sale on Wednesday December 14th, which would again be interfaced and live audio streamed with Auctions Plus while four of the Elders and Landmark weaner sales at Hamilton will also be interfaced to maximize competition.
Euroa agents said the small inconvenience of up loading the lot description, breeding and management details of each vendor line before the sale was negligible compared to the benefits that were gained.
When the decision was made in conjunction to vendors to interface the sale an earlier pre-sale delivery curfew of 5.00pm was agreed to and this allowed agents good time to draft each lot in readiness for weighing to begin at 5.00am the next morning.
“It all ran like clockwork” said Dale Boyd of Rodwells.
I believe the extra time allowed for the cattle to be better drafted, he said. “And with all vendors participating, the whole of the yarding was weighed even though the cattle were still sold dollars per head on the day”.
Russell Mawson, Landmark said even though the market was interfaced the sale was still conducted in the town’s local saleyards which has allowed local producers to showcase and benchmark their cattle against those of their friends and neighbours.
“It retains the community aspect that country saleyards bring to rural areas”, he said.