![Anthony Mahony, Conor Mugavin, Jack Kelly and Kieran Johnstone say keeping Warrnambool's saleyards is vital for the city. Anthony Mahony, Conor Mugavin, Jack Kelly and Kieran Johnstone say keeping Warrnambool's saleyards is vital for the city.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/nB9BrLNgExsfwsLgDBevWP/49a379cd-f14b-46ff-ad8e-7d08f6d97dcb.jpg/r0_0_4032_3024_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Warrnambool stock agents are pleading with city councillors to save the saleyards from closure.
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Farmers and stock agents are set to pack out Monday's council meeting where the future of the facility will be put to the vote.
Stock agents Anthony Mahony, Peter Finnigan, Conor Mugavin, Jack Kelly and Kieran Johnstone don't want to see the saleyards closed.
Mr Finnigan said the Stock Agents Association was urging everyone to get behind and support the saleyards.
"As has been shown over the years, it's a profitable business and a viable business. There is a lot of support for it," he said.
Stock agent Jack Kelly said the saleyards supported up to 50 full and part-time jobs as well as transport operators.
Agents questioned how the council's recent economic impact study was done because they had been contacted by a number of affected businesses which said they weren't consulted.
A council spokesman said its study was carried out using the same methodology it used in a similar 2008 study conducting 118 surveys - half of all attendees that would use the saleyards.
Attendees were asked about their spending habits, and 22 Caramut Road businesses were also contacted.
"Why would the council want farmers marching out of town rather than coming into town. If they close the saleyards they won't be shopping in town as much as they would," Mr Mahony said.
"That's why a lot of towns have saleyards because it brings people into town to shop.
"From the stock agents' point of view, the saleyards has proven its worth over the years as a profit making entity that the Warrnambool City Council runs and it's one of a few that they've got compared to the likes of Flagstaff Hill and AquaZone.
We need people to stand up and fight for it.
- Anothony Mahony
"It's proven itself. "
Mr Mahony said the Warrnambool saleyards had a history of making substantial profits and he was concerned money went into consolidated revenue rather than back into the yards.
"Now we're in a position where we are pleading to have a roof built. It's needed and wanted by the community and the farmers and the agents. It should have happened 20 years ago but now is the time," he said.
"We need people to stand up and fight for it."
Mr Johnstone said the saleyards were a social outing for older farmers, and in the school holidays children came along.
![Stock agents Anthony Mahony, Peter Finnigan, Conor Mugavin, Jack Kelly and Kieran Johnstone don't want to see the saleyards closed. Stock agents Anthony Mahony, Peter Finnigan, Conor Mugavin, Jack Kelly and Kieran Johnstone don't want to see the saleyards closed.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/nB9BrLNgExsfwsLgDBevWP/19597ff2-9cdf-4aa9-998b-169f2657ad7d.jpg/r0_0_4032_3024_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"It's not all just about the stock agents and the cattle coming here. There's another aspect to it which is social value of the saleyards and what it does for the people," he said.
Mr Kelly said there was a lot of loyalty to the Warrnambool yards which have been at the current site for about 50 years after moving from the city centre.
"Second and third generations over 100 years, they have been supporting the yards. They want to continue to sell here," he said.
"Warrnambool needs the saleyards because it attracts people. There are businesses in town depending on the saleyards."
Mr Kelly said businesses were worried about the loss of trade if the yards closed.
The council-commissioned study this week put the financial impact of the saleyards' closure at $10.4 million - down from $13.7 million in 2008.
But agents questioned how the council was planning to fill the hole it would put in the city's economy if it closed.
The study also said the saleyards supported the equivalent of 56 full-time jobs which pays $3.6 million in wages and salaries in 2021-22 either directly or indirectly.
Of the 22 businesses in Caramut Road that were contacted as part of the study, nine indicated that sale days at the yards had a positive impact. Of those nine, three quantified their level of increased activity on sale days to be 20 per cent, 40 per cent and 70 per cent.
Stock agents also questioned how representative the council's 'Your Say' survey because 384 of the 775 respondents were from Warrnambool, which was a tiny fraction of its 35,000 residents.
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