Farmers return to Warrnambool's saleyards securing the future of the site

The opening of the Mortlake Saleyards last January put a $120,000 hole in the city council's budget with profits falling to $139,000 in 2017-18, but last year business picked up and profits rose to $172,000.

Warrnambool City Council has budgeted for those numbers to stay fairly similar in the 2019-20 financial year while also allocating $600,000 for a new roof at the saleyards.

The city's director of corporate strategies Peter Utri said it was fantastic that farmers had started to return to the council-run site.

"We went down 24 per cent with the opening of Mortlake saleyards and we've returned back about 22 per cent of that market," Mr Utri said.

"They opened and people went and tried them and basically there's been a return in numbers, in patronage to the yards which is really good in terms of its ongoing viability.

"It's pretty amazing. It's fantastic."

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The council's manager of financial services David Harrington said the Warrnambool sales were beating the Mortlake sales week on week.

Mr Harrington said the new roof would also harvest the rainwater and bring efficiencies through its operating process.

Mr Utri said the project was currently seeking tenders so final costs could be determined.

Warrnambool saleyards superintendent Paul White said that when the Mortlake saleyards opened, the numbers of cattle dropped from 75,000 to 56,000 but it had been able to claw back more than half lifting numbers by 12,000.

"We're about 7000 cattle short of being back to where we were," Mr White said.

He said he had been "absolutely" concerned for the future of the saleyards in the early days, but now was confident it would return to where it was in the 2016-17 financial year.

Warrnambool saleyards advisory committee chairman Owen O'Keefe said the yards were going surprisingly well despite the competition from neighbouring facilities.

Mr O'Keefe said a lot of vendors had been very loyal to the Warrnambool yards over the past 12 to 18 months.

He said that while he'd been concerned about the yards' future, he was never worried and is now hopeful significant development would soon take place.

Mr O'Keefe said buyers had supported the saleyards and the prices had been "up there with the best".

"Our prime market is one of the best in the state," he said.

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