THE Roma selling centre in Queensland’s Maranoa region again easily topped statistics for highest saleyards cattle turnover in the nation’s largest cattle producing state for the 2013-14 year.

Grant Daniel Long managing director Peter Daniel from Dalby with steers from Ourdel, Windorah at a Roma store sale this year

The results from the Queensland saleyard survey, conducted by MLA’s National Livestock Reporting Service for the 2013-14 selling period, were published today.

Across all 30 participating Queensland yards, there was total turnover of 1.947 million head of cattle recorded during 2013-14, either as sale or transit stock. That figure was almost 345,000 head higher than the same period a year earlier.

The results have again seen Roma rank as the number one selling centre in the state, with Cloncurry and Dalby placing second and third, respectively.

In clear reference to the drought, and also the marked growth in live exports this year,  the biggest adjustment seen in the 2013-14 survey compared with the previous year was in the number of transit cattle recorded. In most cases these animals were destined for relocation for sale elsewhere, live export, or agistment.

Total numbers of transit cattle passing through Queensland saleyards this past financial year was 549,000 head, up from only 171,000 head the previous year. Distorting the transit figures somewhat in 2013-14, however, was the inclusion for the first time of the Cloncurry yards, where the entire yearly turnover of 219,000 head was made up of transit cattle.

But even if Cloncurry is removed from the comparison, there was still an additional 160,000 transit cattle passing through Queensland saleyards this year, compared with 2012-13.

Other large western and northern yards also recorded very high transit cattle business this past year.

Blackall, for example, recorded 66,000 transit stock out of a total of 108,000 head; Longreach 34,000 out of a total of 58,000; Hughenden 56,000, all transit stock; and Winton, 45,000 head, virtually all transit animals.

Numbers of sale cattle passing through the Queensland yards last financial was back about 2pc, to 1.398 million.

While Roma’s overall financial year cattle throughput declined 12 percent year-on-year to 356,000 head, it still comfortably retained its mantle as the nation’s largest cattle selling centre.

Next was Cloncurry with 219,284 head of transit cattle, followed by Dalby at 208,183 head of sale cattle (back 5pc year-on-year).

Gracemere, outside Rockhampton retained fourth position, yarding 130,712 head (up 12pc year-on-year, due primarily to more transit stock), while Blackall finished in fifth position, totalling 108,112 head.

Clermont lifted two places to rank sixth, with 94,363 head, while Dalrymple (Charters Towers), Emerald, Warwick and Longreach rounded out the top ten.

• Click here to view the full 2013-14 Queensland cattle saleyard survey table.