The reason we wanted to be in Roma on the Tuesday is that is sale day at the Roma Saleyards and there is a free tour that takes place.
Roma Saleyards are run by the local Maranoa Council and are the largest cattle selling centre in Australia and one of the largest in the world, selling up to 12,000 cattle on a sale day.
We went out on the Monday morning to have a look through the interpretive centre to get a bit of an overview. The yards were rather quiet.
However, there was a steady stream of trucks coming in during the day. Most are double decker trucks with either two or three trailers. Each deck on the trucks hold up to 34 beasts, so some trucks bring in over 200 head of cattle. Once the cattle are unloaded the trucks must go through the truck wash area, shown behind.
On the Tuesday morning, all the tourists just turn up at 8am by the statue at the interpretive centre for the tour. Another rustic metal sculpture, that is rather appropriate. You don’t have to book the tour.
We are met by our guides who are retired fellows, being selling agents, auctioneers or cattle producers, or in the case of ours, all three. Lloyd was our guide and really informative. About 70 people turned up on the day we were there, so we were split into two groups.
There is a Roma Saleyards Facebook page that lists the number of stock to be sold on the day before the auction. Just over 8,000 head of cattle were to be sold on the day we were there. The Saleyards have the highest possible accreditation, allowing stock sold here to be processed for anywhere in the world.
Firstly, we had a look at “The Bull Pen”, which is used for special bull sales, but not used on a weekly basis. It is also occasionally used for theatre and music performances.
Then we walked along the catwalks between the pens. Each pen is designed to hold one truck deck load of cattle, so up to 34. Each beast has a white electronic ear tag that is inserted while a calf. That tag provides full traceability of all animals through the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS). It is a vital biosecurity measure. No animals from “ticky country” are sold at Roma. If an animal is found to be infested with cattle ticks, the producer receives a penalty, and some stock and sections of the saleyards have to be quarantined.
The main breeds sold are Angus, Red Angus, Charolais, Droughtmaster and Santa Gertrudis. I through there would be Brahman, but no, they are generally not sold at Roma, as most of the cattle head south.
Cattle were presented in a range of conditions from prime to light weight. The south western area of Queensland had been experiencing drought, with some producers destocking much of their herds, resulting in the lighter weight cattle. While conditions in the south east of the country, which had been experiencing drought, had now received good autumn rains and were restocking. There were some older stock and it turns out that many of them go to make ground beef for the USA market. A surprisingly high percentage of their ground beef comes from Australia, as our meat is considered lean and clean.
The cattle are drawn from a wide area, with most of the ones on the day we were there from Western Queensland. The majority do not go directly to abattoirs from Roma. They are bought by feed lots down south or “backgrounders”, which means they are going back to cattle properties to either be fattened or used for breeding.
The Facebook page also gives a sales report on the day after the sale. On the day we were there, numbers were up by 1700 over the previous week. Prices were up on the previous week as well, which were also high. This could account for the large numbers.
We watched the auctioneers in action for a while. They worked so fast, pretty much running from pen to pen. It all works like a well oiled machine. We noticed people with plastic bags on poles. These are used to move cattle around. No cattle prods here. It is all about animal welfare.
Once sold, each pen is then move out of the main selling area, across a weigh bridge. Once again, those while electronic ear tags come into play.
A screen is displayed with the details of the pen of cattle. When cattle are sold, they are not sold as per beast, rather they are sold on a per kilogram of their liveweight basis. The buyers can quite accurately estimate their weight. Once they go over the weigh bridge, the final cost is calculated.
From there, they are moved to holding pens with hay and water, waiting to be loaded once again onto trucks to head to their next destination. It was interesting to see that they are moved around the yards by girls on horseback.
The whole procedure was really interesting to watch. We hear the market reports on the radio at home, but to actually see it all in action and have it explained so clearly was well worth the visit. We are very happy to have gone along.
After that busy morning, we were ready for a quieter time.
There is another place worth visiting that is also only open on a Tuesday morning, so we made a bee line there after the saleyards tour. It is St Paul's Anglican Church.
We were greeted by a volunteer parishoner, who happily showed us around. The church is rather grand for a town of Roma's size.
The original church services were held in the hut of the first minister, built by himself.
Then followed a weatherboard version, but it became too small to house the congregation. The current building was built between 1913 and 1915, with the bell tower added in the 1950s.
The minister wanted to build the "Cathedral of the West", but of course it wasn't a cathedral, as there was no bishop centred there.
However, it is a fine building, constructed from concrete blocks. There were two block making machines and they still have one. The minister was very hands on in the construction of the building. The tiles are from France.
The main attraction of the church is the beautiful stained glass windows. Our guide gave us the history of them all, but there is too much to recall. However, the one standing in the corner here is one of the oldest and was found stored underneath the floor of the church before being displayed here. It dates from 1876 and was in the timber church. There are eleven windows from the previous building.
Three stained glass windows were made by a manufacturer in England, the others in Brisbane, while others are more modern leadlight, some made by a more recent minister's wife. The newest was made in 2006.
It is interesting to see the different styles from the different eras. This is what the original windows were like.
They really glow in the sunlight. There are 39 stained glass and 11 leadlight windows in total.
Another feature is the beautiful organ located at the opposite end of the church to the altar. It has 567 pipes, all in working order and was installed in 1927 by a firm from Brisbane. It is the only one in Western Queensland.
It was another enjoyable and interesting place to visit with a very informative guide.
After lunch, we did our groceries and then found one final attraction in the town. This time it was the Bush Garden.
The garden is established around a dam that was built to hold water for the steam trains back in the day.
Today is it a peaceful place to wander and listen to the birds.
A very relaxing way to end our visit to Roma.
We can definitely see why the town received its tourism award in 2024. Our two days were filled to the brim. We could have stayed longer, but we had places to go and people to see.
