With each passing week where strict social distancing rules are being enforced and people allowed into saleyard facilities on a needs must basis viewing the stock on offer via the internet is growing.

One of the country's major live streaming auction portals is Stocklive, owned and operated by the AAM Investment Group who also operated a number of regional saleyards throughout eastern Australia including Singleton, Tamworth and Carcoar.

Stocklive are also providing the live streaming service to Scone and Kempsey regional saleyards.

The number of bids being made via StockLive has continued to steadily grow at the Upper Hunter Council's Scone saleyards over the past seven weeks. The recent weekly prime stock sale saw 135 viewers, with 24 bidders making 116 bids and six lots sold online.

Casillis based buyer Katrina Goodear said the process of buying quality stock online is simple and an investment in good time management.

"I've purchased 14 head to the value of ~$20,00 via the StockLive platform this week," she said.

"It's an easy and convenient process, and for me personally I see it as a good investment in my time. Traditionally that time spent traveling to auctions took me away from other parts of my business.

"Regardless of the current physical distancing restrictions, online buying is definitely going to be part of my operations going forward."

Scone Regional Livestock Selling Centre, Property & Business Coordinator, Jo McLoughlin said "We've seen the number of online bids continue to grow with more and more people getting used to the online bidding process. The fact that it is so seamless and in real time really supports that active competitive tension during the auction, which is ideal."

StockLive Manager Libby Hufton said: "The success of the online bidding would not be possible without the support of the agents and saleyards"

"Ensuring the process is smooth from the yard to the buyer online really assists in increasing the number of buyers able to participate, creating further buyer competition for the saleyard, vendors and agents. We have worked with the saleyards to ensure as much information is being displayed on the livestock as possible."

"To see the continued growth at Scone in the number of bids being made, reflects what we are seeing at auctions right across the country. Our expectation is that the number of viewers and bidders will continue to grow rapidly in future sales at Scone, and elsewhere, as people continue to get more comfortable with how simple and reliable the online process can be."