AT least one stock agent is considering his legal options to block moves to alter the regular selling day at the Central Queensland Livestock Exchange, Gracemere.
From January 2020, the selling day for combined prime and store cattle will shift from Friday back to Wednesday.
Officially, CQLX operations manager Gavin Tickle said he had no comment to make. He would not confirm, nor deny, the move was set to take effect from January 15. But according to one online report, said marketing cattle earlier in the week would provide a "better outcome" for users of the CQLX complex.
Unofficially, the move is meant to facilitate the smoother flow of slaughter and store cattle through the supply chain.
"There are many problems associated with the present process," agent Corbmack Fanning, Fanning Rural Agencies Rockhampton, said.
"Sometimes staff could be here late into the night on a Friday and that's unacceptable. More importantly, though, there is no available bank and head office back-up available on weekends, meaning agents could be carrying a lot of unnecessary debt before accounts and other paperwork can be properly dispatched.
"Shifting to Wednesday gives two full business days after the sale to get that very important paperwork out to the buyers and the vendors."
But Brad Mulvihill, TopX Rockhampton, said the move would savage his business.
"I am not a lone wolf," Mr Mulvihill said.
"There is a lot of unease about this and other agents are up in arms because the change will do more harm than good to their clients and their businesses. I don't believe the reasons they're giving for the change - I truly think there is more to it.
"I have worked hard for years to build my business and my clients trust the way I do things and everyone of them is 100 per cent behind the Friday selling day and absolutely opposed to any change.
"If they push ahead, as seems likely, then I will be having a very serious talk with my solicitor about our options. If we have to have a day in court, so be it. But it will be a sad day and these arguments are needless.
"I have repeatedly asked for the reasoning behind the move and never get a straight answer. I can't even get to a roundtable so we can sit and talk it through.
"Friday sales have been going for years and business is trending upwards so I don't understand why there is this push to change. I have always subscribed to the thinking that if it's not broken, then don't fix it."
CQLX is the one of the largest cattle selling centres in Queensland, regularly yarding more than 2000 head each week.
