The appointment of a Receiver to Ireland’s largest livestock exporter, TLT International, has delivered a serious blow to Ireland’s livestock sector.

Past history has taught us that the sector is not immune to collapses of this type, due to the volatile nature of the business and the trading risks involved. We need to make sure that lessons are learned on this occasion.

The news has serious implications for at least 30 marts who are facing the prospect of being left out of pocket for significant sums of money, unless a deal is agreed with the bank involved, HSBC. For a small number of farmers who sold stock from the field to TLT, the receivership could cost them their entire output for 2013.

However, we need to avoid an over-reaction – the scale of the debt, while very painful for individual farmers and marts, is small in the context of the overall sector. ICOS pointed out this week that the mart sector trades approximately 1.7m cattle annually, with a turnover value of €1.1bn in 2012.

The trade in top class animals bred for specialised markets was affected in recent days, but strong farmer demand ensured that the overall impact on prices was small. Many of those top class Italian market cattle were held back to await clarity on the impact. For everyone’s sake, the Receiver needs to resolve the issues as quickly as possible.

IFA’s livestock chairman Henry Burns said there was an urgent need for clarity as to the extent of the creditors and debtors in TLT and he called on the Receiver to make this information available. IFA this week made it very clear to both the Receiver and the TLT directors that payment for livestock must be prioritised. Farmers directly affected should contact IFA immediately.

Despite this painful hit, selling through a fully licensed mart remains the best option for farmers to ensure they are paid the full market value of their stock.

In order to ensure that farmers receive the best price for their cattle and sheep, a healthy live export trade is essential in order to drive competition. Despite this week’s setback, a range of countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East remain keen for live Irish cattle of various types.

The TLT collapse should not cast a black mark on all livestock exporters.

So what can we learn from this latest debacle? In many regions, despite warnings, private and co-op marts felt compelled to trade with the company in order to attract the top prices that TLT paid.

Mart managers will privately admit that the intense competition for stock between marts has, at times, led to pressure to take risks from sellers and even committee members. If we had less than 90 marts, would this have happened?

Finally, when the dust settles, many mart committees need to take a serious look at their business. Marts are not banks. Even if the TLT collapse had not occurred, the fact that the mart business is now operating under the supervision of the Property Services Regulatory Act means that changes to how marts run their businesses are inevitable.