These were the words of local stock and station agent, Steve Holloway of Holloways Stock and Property, when he was told he had five minutes to explain why the Young Saleyards should remain open.

Mr Holloway spoke in the open forum of Young Shire Council’s monthly meeting on Wednesday.

He said there were meetings to close the saleyards dating as far back to when he arrived in Young in 1988.

Mr Holloway said the truck wash was why the stockyards were facing closure because of council’s trade waste strategy.

And he provided some background.

“The saleyards were leased out to local stock and station agents – called Young Saleyards Pty Ltd – in the 90s to manage and operate the saleyards, and pay for all outgoings, such as rates and water usage, including the truck wash which had to be open to all the public,” he said.

Mr Holloway said the trucks from Young’s abattoirs using the truck wash had a huge impact.

“The effluent ponds were only there to accommodate what came off the saleyards - 90 per cent of the effluents were from the trucks from the abattoirs which were costing thousands of dollars to empty,” he said.

“Young Saleyards Pty Ltd carried out several upgrades - all to keep up with industry requirements and all paid for by the vendors and agents who used them - but our biggest and deadliest was those effluent costs.”

Mr Holloway said the drought put a squeeze on numbers with fat cattle sales ceasing, and in 2010, sheep sales also coming to an end.

He said once the abattoirs closed in 2010 there was minimum impact on the saleyards but they still had to maintain it.

“All I’m trying to do is keep the horse sales – just so we have another facility to go to in Young,” Mr Holloway said.

He put forward a proposal for council to keep the saleyards so horse sales in Young could continue with minimal costs.

“Young’s horse sales are the only horse sale in the southern region - Dubbo closed down, Forbes closed down – the next closest horse sale is Camden,” Mr Halloway said.

“We draw horses from Boggabilla, Echuca and Bega,” he said.

“Other centres will take on the sales if we don’t continue, they will have preference over any government funding, for something like that equine centre [we want to build here].”

Cr Tony Wallace asked Mr Holloway how many sales a year there are, to which he replied, “eight to 10 sales per year – but if we keep it it’ll be once a month for sure.”

“I see the figures alleging the saleyards are not viable but what I can’t see are the figures of all those people who travel hundreds of kilometers to attend the horse sales, spending money on a night in Young, food, fuel and browsing through shops,” he concluded.

The office of Senator Fiona Nash confirmed that struggling saleyards have access of up to $130,000 in Australian Government funding through the Regional Development Australia Fund.

Another avenue – the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity program – may also provide up to $160,000 in funding as it did for the Gloucester saleyards, according to Mrs Nash’s office.