Rongotea stock sales move to Tuesday from January 12

Rongotea saleyards, circa 1918.

The popular Rongotea stock sales will move to Tuesday from January 12, 2021.

NZ Farmers Livestock regional manager Malcolm Coombe said farmers traditionally attended one sale a day but their hybrid auction platform enables them to virtually attend sales all over the country.

"This means they're often conflicted, wanting to bid at several sales on the same day.

"So we've made it easier for them to attend every sale, by adjusting the dates of some of the sales we have control over, like Rongotea."

Coombe said the Rongotea stockyards date back more than 100 years.

"It's always been a popular sale, the crowds attending today not that dissimilar from the photograph of a sale held in 1918.

"Local stock sales are a vital part of rural life – they're the lifeblood of small communities, like Rongotea, and we don't expect that will ever change.

"They're a chance for farming families to come to town to mix and mingle.

"They're the lifeblood of rural towns and communities.

"Our hybrid auction platform provides farmers with a tool to participate in stock sales across the country – so instead of going out of region and spending hours on the road travelling to a sale, you can simply go online and buy the stock you're after in as little as 10 minutes," Coombe said.

The NZ Farmers Livestock Rongotea sale yards feature weekly yardings of all classes of stock – pigs, calves, store and dairy cattle.

The sale will be held each Wednesday until the New Year when it will change to Tuesdays.

The first 2021 sale will be held on Tuesday, January 12.