Blackall-Tambo mayor Andrew Martin has defended his council's stance in refusing to let vendors attend weekly cattle sales at the Blackall Saleyards for months after other selling centres relaxed restrictions.
In his opinion, its hard stance could have resulted in the yards being the only facility in the state able to operate if the pandemic had spread to regional Queensland.
A COVID-19 regional council update circulated to "Blackall Saleyards Users" dated October 9 quietly included vendors in its list of who can now attend sales.
There was no discernible rush by vendors to attend last week's cattle sale at Blackall in the wake of the relaxation however.
President of the Blackall Livestock Agents Association Paton Fitzsimons said it might be a different case this week, with 5000 head booked for the monthly weaner sale and a red hot market expected.
Owners of cattle sold at the yards were shut out from attending sales along with other personnel deemed non-essential when COVID-19 restrictions were implemented Australia-wide at the end of March.
In mid-June the Australian Livestock Markets Association relaxed restrictions around vendors being able to attend selling centres, at the discretion of individual yard operators.
Cr Martin dismissed the announcement as stupid timing, coming soon after mass rallies in a number of capital cities, but Regional Livestock Exchange, which operates the Gracemere yards, immediately announced it was easing entry restrictions to allow vendors to attend.
A fortnight later, on July 3, the Western Downs Regional Council was giving the general public access to the Dalby Saleyards, under COVID-19 sanitation, sign-in and social distancing rules.
Queensland Country Life has been unable to ascertain when the Roma Saleyards eased restrictions on vendor attendance, apart from a Maranoa Regional Council statement that they are allowed to attend store sales on Tuesdays in alignment with Queensland government directives.
Cr Martin was adamant in June that Blackall's regulations would lift once Queensland's Chief Health Officer softened social distancing regulations, which he said was the reason for the change in policy last week.
It still prohibits the general public, including tourists, from entering the yards at Blackall.
"Vendors have to be genuine and it's up to the supervision of the saleyards manager and the agents operating there," Cr Martin said. "When we can, we'll relax more."
He said that at the height of the pandemic, Blackall were the only yards in the state abiding by the rules as applied by the Chief Health Officer.
"I don't care what other councils did, this was a considered process by ourselves," he said.
"It created angst among some people but it was never an exercise in the administration of power.
"It was done in the best interests of vendors - if we'd closed down, they'd have had to find other markets."
Thanks to the record intake of 221,500 cattle to the Blackall Saleyards this year, and the steadily rising price, the effect of disgruntled producers selling cattle elsewhere was offset.
Paton Fitzsimons said his clients expressed disappointment but were accepting of the regulation that kept them on the outside.
"They knew their presence didn't affect the result of the sale, and the restrictions weren't detrimental to the market at all," he said.
Some 95 per cent of his clients didn't attend sales even before COVID-19 restrictions, with the other 5pc keen to compare the stock on sale with what they had to sell.
"There were no extra people there last week that I saw but we might have a few vendors this week, with 5000 head for sale," he said.
"If the right cattle are there, the market will be indescribeable.
"The demand for cattle is huge and it just keeps evolving, off the back of more rain."