The yarding of more than 2500 head is one of the largest since weekly sheep and cattle sales stopped last August.

Kattle Gear Australia managing director, Bill Vowles, who owns the saleyard, said he was “unlikely” to renew his Environmental Protection Authority licence for the facility, which expired on June 30, 2017.

“Things would have to change dramatically for me to renew it,” he said.

“...The writing has been on the wall for a while...We don’t have a viable business anymore largely because of the Yass saleyard opening (last August) but numbers were falling prior to that.”

Mr Vowles could not say why but speculated the growing popularity of direct selling had impacted. The saleyard has only hosted special sales since August, 2016.

“We’ve done our best to provide the best facility we can but we have not received the support we needed to allow it to continue,” he said.

“I said (last October) to agents and producers to use it or lose it and it was fair warning. It has not been used and ultimately it won’t survive. I’m not prepared to run it at a loss.” 

He could not put a precise date on closure but said the facility would only host a few more special sales before June 30. 

Mr Vowles bought the facility from the former Goulburn City Council in 2001 for $100 as part of a controversial and complex deal imposing responsibilities on both parties.

He had to deliver a new saleyard but this never secured State Government approval. The council could not compel the company to construct a modern facility under the contract terms but Kattle Gear ended up owning and running the existing yard.

Mr Vowles said if he had his time over, he would do things differently. He was referring to the Mazamet Road site chosen by the council for the new yard in the early 2000s.

“We would have decided on a location that better suited the industry. That’s where the council wanted to build it but we would have moved it out of the Sydney catchment area,” he said.

“We still have a lot of development to do in Goulburn but the Sydney Catchment Authority and the council have a lot to answer for in terms of stymieing development.”

Potential water impact was one of the State’s grounds for refusal of the Mazamet Road site.

The current saleyard was established in the mid 1920s by Goulburn City Council for 10,500 pounds, according to Wyatt’s History of Goulburn.

In its heyday, it was attracting 55,000 head of livestock but in recent years, numbers had dropped dramatically.

Mr Vowles said he was disappointed about the closure but had little option.

“It’s the end of an era and I feel pretty ordinary about it,” he said.

He rejected earlier agent and producer criticism he hadn’t invested in infrastructure and that yard fees had deterred selling at Goulburn. Likewise, he argued it was a “misrepresentation of the facts” to say he had secured the complex for $100.

“People can think that but it has taken an awful lot of money, which has not generated by the saleyard,” Mr Vowles said.

“It has been a very frustrating part of our business life. Who puts a value on it when there are so many things to do? Along the way we have run into government funding of $4.5 million for the Moss Vale saleyard, which we couldn’t access because we weren’t a semi-government authority. It’s been a very uneven playing field.”  

Goulburn Associated Agents president Daniel Croker did not return requests for comment on the impending closure. However he was busy organising today’s Landmark sale.

Landmark and Michael Hall were the last agents selling at Goulburn, the rest having fully transferred allegiance to Yass.

Mr Hall said the imminent closure was very disappointing for the city given the long history but one had to be realistic.

“It’s a numbers game and if you can’t get the numbers, it’s very hard to get people at sales,” he said.

“We’re Australia’s first inland city and we’ve run on the sheep’s back for a long time but now that industry has gone elsewhere. It’s a shame for the town.”

Mr Hall and Landmark also sell at the new $15 million state-of-the-art facility at Yass. He said it was difficult to judge whether producers were fetching higher prices there than if Goulburn had continued but there was stronger competition and larger numbers at Yass.

In contrast, Goulburn had continued to drop in numbers before weekly sales stopped and there was insufficient support to keep it going.

Mayor Bob Kirk said news of the closure came as “no surprise,” given Yass saleyard’s success.

“I think it’s widely accepted that the saleyard has gone downhill since (Mazamet Rd was refused),” he said.

“There were those planning issues but there was opportunity for him to put up an alternative proposal and nothing has happened.

“I’m certainly disappointed that Goulburn has lost an iconic facility and though I’d wish for a different outcome, the writing has been on the wall for a while.”

Cr Kirk argued that while the yard was an integral part of the community and a key economic driver, Goulburn had to move on in terms of economic development.

Mr Vowles told The Post he would likely sell the 8.7 hectare Finlay Road land but had made no decisions.

Recently he sold land at Painters Lane, southeast of Goulburn, which he had earlier purchased and secured approval for irrigation of treated saleyard effluent.