A copy of the letter to the Editor sent to The Weekly Times this week from the President of the WVLX Agent’s Association, that wasn’t published….
Dear Editor,
I am writing on behalf of the WVLX Agent’s Association to express our disappointment over the lack of support and coverage from The Weekly Times (TWT) of the WVLX Mortlake Saleyards over the last year.
WVLX is a privately owned facility aimed at delivering a world-class saleyard experience and better outcomes for farmers in South West Victoria.
There are ten livestock agencies currently involved at WVLX and we are working really hard at making the facility successful as we all believe in the benefits it has for our vendors and buyers alike.
Being a Monday prime market, we also believe the timing is ideal for The Weekly Times to report on given the paper is distributed on a Wednesday, to be able to give the latest and most current market reporting to its readers, as opposed to reports from other markets that are several days old.
We have had positive support from all other local and regional media outlets and don’t understand the lack of support and negativity from TWT. In particular, we have been trying all year to have our prime markets covered in the rural reports section of your paper (along with the other yards in Victoria), and even though MLA report our sales, we have not been given a reason why our yards aren’t included.
There was also no coverage of our November and December store sales by TWT which was disappointing given we yarded 3612 and 3026 cattle respectively, and also our December store sale raised awareness and over $5000 for the HeartKids foundation, a worthy cause aimed at supporting children and families born with congenital heart disease.
We also note that TWT didn’t attend our Store/Feature Female Sale on Thursday 17 January, but did attend the Warrnambool Store Sale a day later.
We understand there was an issue with Mr Abbey, and whilst we most certainly do not condone his behaviour, we do support his concern about the lack of support from TWT.
We hope you will consider attending our monthly store sales, reporting our weekly prime markets, and supporting WVLX more positively in the future given that our facility affects so many people within your readership.
Regards, Glenn Judd
President WVLX Agents Association