THE official opening and first sale at the brand new South Eastern Livestock Exchange (SELX) near Yass in southern NSW took place on Thursday.

After 313 days of construction, a packed public laneway witnessed the bell ring out and the ribbon cut to open the nation’s latest world-class, regional livestock selling centre.

Yass Valley Mayor, Rowena Abbey, officially opened the yards, saying it took courage and vision to achieve what the directors of SELX had done.

“They had a dream, stood by their belief and today we stand in the reality of that dream,’ Mayor Abbey said.

The inaugural sale saw 2369 cattle sold by the 12 participating stock agencies, with a solid gallery of meatworks and other buyers present.

National Livestock Reporting Service reporter David Monk, described young cattle as attracting very solid competition, with vealers to the processors selling to 380c/kg. The prime steer yearlings to slaughter sold from 348c to 395c while the prime heifer yearlings sold from 326c to 389c, with the medium weights averaging 375c/kg.

Young cattle to feed also sold well, with the feeder steers selling from 353c to 417c while the heifer portion sold from 340c to 380c/kg.

“The re-stockers were very active on the well-bred lines of young cattle paying to 466c for steers and 385c/kg for heifers,” Mr Monk reported.

Grown steers to the processors sold from 292c to 350c to average 341c while the export weight steers to the feeders sold to 385c/kg. Grown heifers sold to 336c/kg. The cow market was also solid, with plain conditioned cows to the re-stockers selling from 220c to 288c/kg. Score 2 cows to the processors sold from 220c to 246c while the better 3 and 4 score cows sold from 235c to 299c and 4 score heavy weight cows averaged 279c/kg.

The best prices on the day were left to the charity auction, with one of the six heifers donated by the six SELX directors selling for $12,500. A total of $29,500 was raised in the charity pen, with the money donated to the Country Education Foundation. The money will be used to support the educational aspirations of an agricultural student.

“It was a great day and a great way to kick off sales at SELX,” saleyard manager, Rod Bourlet said.

“We experienced a few technical hiccups but nothing that can’t be sorted after a thorough review with staff, overall I’m really happy with how everything operated. It is all positive.”

SELX now shifts focus to the first prime lamb and sheep sale for the complex, with the sale taking place at 11am this Wednesday, 24 August.