Additional selling pens, a new weighbridge and double-deck loading ramps were all discussed at a recent council finance and policy committee meeting.

The committee received reports from the saleyards advisory committee following a review of cattle operations prepared for the council.

Chairman of the Finance and Policy committee, Councillor John Walkom, said in recent times there had been a dramatic increase in cattle numbers due to a variety of factors including drought in large parts in eastern Australia.

"Highly variable seasonal conditions, market forces and the strategic location of Dubbo combine to generate high numbers of stock at the Dubbo Regional Livestock Markets," Cr Walkom said.

He said it was not unusual for cattle sales at Dubbo to be between 5000 and 7000 head.

"The ongoing consistent high sales numbers warrant investigating ways to improve the capacity of the cattle handling complex," Cr Walkom said.

He said the Dubbo Regional Livestock Markets were a valuable asset which contributed $47.7 million to the regional economy.

Local stock and station agent Bill Tatt said improvements to the yards would be warmly welcomed.

"It's hard to be critical of the facilities because they do the job at hand," Mr Tatt said.

But, he said the original design of the yards were constructed to hold between 2500 to 3000 head of cattle at a time.

"Most weeks we're holding more than 8000 cattle for the sales," he said.

Mr Tatt said the proposed improvements would help at no end to accommodate for the large numbers of stock going through the yards each week.