Pakenham saleyard closure | Stock & Land - video Dailymotion

The Pakenham saleyard, also known as the Victorian Livestock Exchange (VLE), closes after 25 years of operation.

Transcript

00:00It's the end of an era here at Pakenham with the final steel cattle sale being held and it marks

00:05the end of 170 years of cattle selling facilities in Melbourne. First at Newmarket, then Dandenong

00:12and now Pakenham with three sale yards closing and it's one of nine sale yards that's closed

00:18here in Victoria over the last 20 years. We're all disappointed, we'd like to stay here

00:23but in fairness we all want to stay at Dandenong. I don't ever want to go back to Dandenong again.

00:29Life moves on, we don't own it. Private enterprise, they've decided to sell it, we have to grab on.

00:35Tell us about how the Pakenham sale yards came to fruition and your involvement as the

00:40president of the Livestock Association at the time. The Newmarket are closed and a lot of

00:46agents came from Newmarket to Dandenong. The Dandenong City Council grew and they didn't

00:52want sale yards anymore, they were going to close no matter what. The VLE came along and

00:57the Pakenham Council owned half of this land and it was privately owned by Chris Lee who's

01:02now the chairman of the VLE. They got together and decided to build a sale yard. At the time

01:08it was just as expensive to concrete the floor or build a shed so when Graham Osborne came on

01:16board it really took off and the project went ahead. First privately owned multi-agent sale

01:23yard. I've been here since 1999 and really had most of my career here and it's certainly a sad

01:32day. I really like this facility for selling cattle. Cattle present really well here and it's

01:38been a fantastic gateway to Gippsland when the dry weather comes. Cattle came from the north down

01:44here because we've got the gateway to Gippsland and it's geographically in a wonderful spot,

01:50albeit now it's been outgrown with industrial factories and everything around it. It's a sad

01:55day that we've got to uproot and move another hour and 20 down the road. It's just a long way

02:02and a bit more added cost for our vendors. We've been involved in the VLE since it actually opened

02:08even before it opened. So my husband and I are shareholders and my husband Robert Van Vleet

02:17was the main plumber at Fountaingate Plumbing and he actually installed the shed, the actual roof,

02:24he does all the plumbing here. So today's a bit of a nostalgia day for us and to come and look

02:31at the last sale and enjoy the atmosphere. How does it feel to be here Trudy? It's actually

02:38for me it's a little bit two ways. I'm a little bit sad as my husband is no longer with us

02:46so we're here as a family today to represent him. So it's kind of an end of an era,

02:52start of new beginnings. So yeah it's exciting but it's also sad. Our legacy is a good one,

02:59it's been great for the industry. We've changed forever what the expectations are of Asadio

03:06and it's brought the food line industry into Asadio and our purchase in Asadio.

03:12I think our legacy is a good one and the standard of undercover soft floor

03:18for the high rainfall areas is paramount. I don't think like nobody would consider

03:25building Asadio these days without they followed the rough template of what we've done.