Tourists flock to livestock saleyards
Visitors to the Manawatu region can now experience a livestock sale at the Southern Hemisphere's largest livestock saleyards.
Realising they had a unique facility, Feilding Promotion launched weekly saleyards tours at the Livestock Centre to allow tourists to mingle with farmers and their livestock and learn about the history of selling livestock, one of New Zealand’s oldest traditions dating back to the 1880s.
Feilding Promotion manager Helen Worboys said the tours offered tourists a unique interactive rural experience.
‘The saleyards are a vital social occasion. Farmers go there to share news, catch up with friends and colleagues and discuss farming trends. It’s a snapshot of rural New Zealand that most tourists would never see,’ says Mrs Worboys.
Visitors can wander through the 330 sheep pens and experience an auction in the state of the art cattle rostrum.
Feilding’s twice weekly sales see an average of 15,000 sheep and 1400 head of cattle sold each week. A variety of specialist sales also take place throughout the year.
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