Ballarat’s soon-to-be-closed livestock saleyard has operated for more than 150 years. Project owners for the new saleyard are relying on DuraGalPlus® steel products to provide the new facility with the same longevity.
High-strength hot-dipped galvanized structural steel and DuraGalPlus® steel form the mainstays of a state-of-the-art livestock saleyard that will be the biggest of its kind in Victoria once operational.
The Central Victoria Livestock Exchange (CVLX) project, situated on a greenfield site 12.5km outside of Ballarat, will become the hub for cattle and sheep sales in Central Victoria and ensure Ballarat continues its major role as a regional centre for livestock sales.
The $24 million site just outside Miners Rest will take the place of the existing saleyard at Delacombe, which is showing its age after more than 150 years of operation. More than 30,000sqm of selling pens will be undercover, a substantial improvement on the Delacombe saleyards.
The CVLX livestock saleyard will be the largest of its kind in Victoria
Comprising a single-storey stepped-roofed saleyard and open-air holding pens, the new facility has been designed to meet industry-wide animal welfare and environmental standards and will accommodate annual throughput of 70,000 cattle and 1.6 million sheep.
The new site will also prioritise greater levels of efficiency, with CVLX Regional Manager James Thompson telling Ballarat-based The Courier newspaper it will substantially improve the process of livestock penning and classification.
“The layout and the flow of it is a big advantage for efficiencies,” James said. “You’ve got pens that can be opened up and different-sized pens that are easily configurable. That’s a major advantage – you’ve got a lot more flexibility and better utilisation of space.”
DuraGalPlus® the solution
Underpinning the CVLX project’s modern and adaptable infrastructure is high-strength hot-dipped galvanized structural steel and DuraGalPlus® steel supplied by Liberty OneSteel Metalcentre. DuraGalPlus® is a hot-dip galvanized product with a smooth internal and external zinc coating with a minimum of 100 g/m2 each side that meets the requirements of AS/NZS 4792 Class ZB100/100.
Hot-dipped galvanized structural steel and DuraGalPlus® will help the saleyard withstand the rigours of moving and holding livestock
With Walz Group as the principal engineering, procurement and construction contractor, Liberty OneSteel Metalcentre’s Bendigo and Scoresby branches supplied project fabricators Central Steel Build and Plinius Engineering and Fabrication with quality steel product capable of withstanding the rigours of the saleyard. These rigours include not just the effect of extreme weather on the external surfaces of the structure, but the physical forces on holding gates and fences associated with moving livestock, not to mention the corrosive effects of animal waste on that infrastructure.
