But most confirmed last Friday to Regional Infrastructure, operators of the Northern Victoria Livestock Exchange, that they would attend the sale.

Over the weekend, however, several changed their minds.

The result was a 10 to 20 cent per kilogram drop in the market, a third of cattle being passed in and the agents and operators being forced to appease the buyers by switching to post-sale weighing for the next prime sale.

Regional Infrastructure managing director Garry Edwards said he was disappointed the buyers had taken that action.

He said representatives of those companies were contacted last Friday and most confirmed they would attend Tuesday’s sale.

“Apart from Teys, the majority of them confirmed they would be in attendance; then they’ve decided not to be over the course of the weekend,” Mr Edwards said.

Teys Australia general manager of corporate services Tom McGuire said his company told Regional Infrastructure six months ago that they would not operate at the Barnawartha North yards if pre-sale weighing was being used.

And he denied any suggestion of collusion among buyers.

“We don’t talk to anyone about it,” he said.

Another buyer, Herds, was linked to the boycott but livestock manager Nigel Vince said his buyer didn’t make purchases this week because they didn’t need cattle out of Wodonga.

He said in the past other buyers had tried to pull him into working together.

“On several occasions other processors have tried to get us to stand with them and I have said we do our own job,” Mr Vince said.

“At the end of the day we do our job and have nothing to do with them.”

He said his buyer could have been back at Barnawartha North on Tuesday if he needed cattle from that market, regardless of the method of weighing.

“My preference is to buy post-sale weighing but if I’m short of cattle and want to buy out of Wodonga pre-weigh, that’s my decision,” Mr Vince said.

Mr Edwards said how the sale was to be conducted was at the discretion of the stock agents.

He said a meeting had been held last Friday related to the weighing before the decision to switch was made early this week.

“I’m making the assumption that the agents have made some consultation with producers on that matter,” Mr Edwards said.

“The context is obviously ensuring that at all times maximum buyer representation is present. 

“Obviously it would have been ideal to do it over a longer transitional period; that was our preference and the agents’. 

“But as far as next week’s sale is concerned, we obviously need to do it. The change being applied to the Tuesday and Wednesday sales, which will go to post-weigh.”

The sales will be brought forward an hour to 8am and Mr Edwards expected all the cattle to be weighed by noon because of the saleyards’ capacity to weigh over 800 cattle an hour.

He said vendors who were unhappy could sell at the store sale instead.