SALEYARD HISTORY
The Stortford Lodge Saleyards were established on the current 4.3ha site west of central Hastings in 1903. The Hawke's Bay Auctioneers Association built Stortford Lodge and moved from their smaller saleyards in Central Hastings. The new location provided more scale and was in a better locality for livestock access which in those days arrived and departed on foot or by rail and were held in paddocks around and nearby to the Saleyards.
The Saleyards underwent major construction in the mid-late 1980's which saw 10 new loading banks installed, a new turnaround / parking area for truck & trailers, larger pens, more efficient drafting facilities and large concreted areas to ensure stock were better presented on sale days.
In 1998 part of the existing complex was demolished to make way for new administration facilities. The Rostrum was also refurbished at the same time to include a computerised weighing system providing buyers with the actual live weight of the animal at the time of sale and display what the animals would fetch in terms of $/kg. Further alterations in 2012 saw the installation of an automatic EID scanner which reads the animals EID tags as they enter / exit the Rostrum.
Regular weekly sales continue to be held on Monday's & Wednesday's with approximately 330,000 Sheep and 28,000 Cattle passing through the Saleyards each year.
