ATTENDING the fat cattle market at Pakenham on Monday, is part of the job, so I can get a feel for market trends. While I would like to attend other markets, timelines don’t always allow this to happen, but I promise to keep trying.
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Before the start of the sale, livestock manager, Scott Ronaldson, made an unusual announcement that had me checking with him to find out the context of it.
Mr Ronaldson said “there will be a small return sale at the completion of the main market, as there had been an issue with some NVD forms, and the VLE would not be taking responsibility for inaccuracies in these forms”.
“All cattle in the main sale are fine, but buyers beware in the later sale”, he said.
I sought out Mr Ronaldson and he indicated the problem was around incorrect, or no NVD form tendered prior to sale, causing difficulties for office staff later in the day.
According to Mr Ronaldson, buyers have attended the VLE office at the end of the sale to find some non-complying forms. This was due mostly to producers using old 2013 NVD forms.
Apparently, some buyers have not been kind to the office staff, and Mr Ronaldson indicated that it was time to stop this occurring.
Now, I may be wrong, but the new, compliant forms have been out for at least two years, and for producers to not understand these are no longer compliant, is possibly just ignorant. However, Gippsland has many small farmers, and some may not have sold for a while, hence the lack of knowledge.
Now, I might be wrong, but it is my belief that any saleyard should not take delivery of livestock delivered without a NVD. It is also my belief that buyers have the opportunity to read a pre-sale summary, which would allow them to see any discrepancies in forms, and not buy them accordingly.
Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the producer to supply the correct information, and then the agent to oversee the forms supplied. I do know that agents have seen these errors and have contacted their vendors and got a complying form, but at the end of the day, all producers should be aware of the correct version of form to be used.
I would hate to see an incorrect form slip through the system, and cause an export conundrum down the track.
