Saleyard auctions with simultaneous remote bidding have been available since at least 2004 in the US, which was when its saleyard industry representative body, the Livestock Marketing Association, launched its live streaming service. Today, the LMA livestreams regular sales from 95 sites and it says there are similar web-based services from other providers used by another 150 of the roughly 1000 saleyards in the country.
“The vast majority [of saleyards] are independent, family owned businesses,” LMA’s Kristen Parman told Country-Wide. “There are also a few cooperative auctions, owned by a group of livestock producers that saw a need for an auction in their region.”
Australia’s StockLive is also a third-party solution to streaming auctions and enabling online bidding. Manager Libby Hufton says since launching three years ago, it now has 15 of the 85 or so saleyards in Australia that run weekly or fortnightly sales using its service, as well as a number of stud stock and special feature sales.
“While there are other online auction players in the market, none are gaining significant traction and none are dedicated specifically to support saleyards like StockLive,” she told Country-Wide. There’s no fee to bid through StockLive. Whether vendors pay an additional fee to be part of a livestreamed sale is at the discretion of the saleyards which choose the level of service they wish to provide, from livestream only through to “the full suite of livestreaming and bidding facilities.”
StockLive is fully adaptable to various market requirements and is interested in expansion opportunities in NZ, says Hufton.
