Present day animal shelter and proposed location of new animal shelter located at Pollwombra Road, Moruya. Photo: Eurobodalla Shire Council website.
Three rural community members have told Eurobodalla Shire Council that the livestock yards in Moruya’s industrial estate were a necessity, and it was not practical to move them, temporarily or permanently, to the Moruya Showground.
Farmer Keith Dance, Patrick Jeffery who runs a livestock cartage business, and his mother Elizabeth Jeffery, addressed the council at the regular public access meeting on Tuesday (3 December).
They spoke in relation to a motion proposed at the 19 November council meeting regarding the construction of a new animal shelter. The meeting’s papers said the livestock yards were located nearby the animal shelter and were used intermittently.
“The site is occupied by numerous livestock pens used for the sale of livestock which have not occurred at the location for some time,” the background paper PSR24/020 said. “The livestock pens are used sporadically, and only accommodating one or two animals when in use.”
The PSR24/020 paper recommended the pens be dismantled and reconstructed within the carpark of the existing shelter temporarily until the old shelter is demolished. “Alternatively, as the livestock pens are used infrequently, the pens could be removed altogether, with the livestock yards at Moruya Showground used as the substitute.”
The yards are used to load livestock onto trucks to take them to sales. They are also used to rest and treat livestock on their journey. Photo: File.
Mr Jeffery said small landholders and even larger ones needed the yards to load livestock to take them to sales.
“Ten days ago, I had 200 head of cattle at the yards. There is no way you can load those cattle on the farm,” he said. “We go to dozens of farms the day before and then take them to the sales.”
Mr Jeffery said it was the only suitable place between Nowra and Bega where transporters could stop to fix any issues.
Mrs Jeffery said it was the only designated sales yard in the area.
“It is a contained environment for livestock to be unloaded and rested, and to be treated, and it is a safe place during emergencies,” Mrs Jeffery said.
She said livestock sales ceased there in 2020 during COVID and stock and station agent Stewart Smith from Bega stopped travelling to Moruya.
The yards were in limbo, then rumours spread that the yards would be demolished.
Mrs Jeffery and her husband Ray made a submission to take over the yards’ lease “because it is a necessity”.
“In our submission we said we would do all the necessary repairs to bring the yard back to use and do the ongoing maintenance,” Mrs Jeffery said. “We felt a duty to preserve an essential and historical facility.”
Councillor Phil Constable asked Mr Jeffery about the implications for small landholders if the yards were removed and replaced.
“Even some of the larger landholders could not carry on,” Mr Jeffery said. “There are people with 150 calves and beef farms without access to those facilities.” He said 30 to 50 landowners would be impacted by any change.
Livestock are marshalled in the yards at Moruya before being taken to sales. Photo: File.
Mr Dance was against all of the proposed changes.
“It is impossible to relocate them to the carpark of the shelter because the trucks need a full turning circle,” he said.
Mr Dance said that after the Black Summer bushfires there were designated emergency places for livestock.
“To say we can put them in the Moruya Showground is wrong. That is where people gathered,” he said. “It is a flood zone so the livestock and heavy trucks couldn’t use it, so it isn’t a practical solution.”
Mr Dance said the animals and trucks made too much noise to be in an urban setting like the showground.
Mr Jeffery agreed, noting there were no houses near the livestock yards’ current location. “That is why people don’t realise how much it is used.”
Councillor Mick Johnson asked if anywhere could work temporarily.
Mr Jeffery said no, because it would have to be a new set of yards. “It has loading ramps and all-weather access so you are looking at hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he said.
Councillor Colleen Turner asked Mr Dance and Mr Jeffery if there was enough room on the site to construct the new animal shelter without having to temporarily relocate the yards. Both men said there was, with Mr Jeffery adding he had experience in earthworks.
Mr Dance said the rural industries, which are such an important part of the shire, should have been consulted prior to the motion coming before council.
Mrs Jeffery said it would be a “great misfortune, historically and for animal welfare” to lose the yards.
“It is like a safety house. You know they are there if you are travelling and have trouble,” she said. “For all us rural people the livestock yards are a necessity.”
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