Following requests from several marts around the country, the Irish Farmers Journal team has been rolling out the new MartBids app in marts around the country facilitating online sales.

Marts have invested a huge amount of time and effort over the last few weeks and months altering systems of sales and working with the Irish Farmers Journal on perfecting the operating system.

Speaking with the Irish Farmers Journal, Central Auctions general manager Michael Harty said: “We’ve been through a lot over the last few weeks, but we’re delighted to be able to facilitate online sales for local farmers.

Gift

"We tried tender sales as we had no other option at the time, but they were torture and a lot of work for mart staff.

"The MartBids app is a gift and both sellers and buyers love the simplicity of it. It’s very transparent for both the buyer and seller and it’s also very easy to use for our auctioneers, which is very important for the smooth running of a sale.

"We have a lot of buyers still coming in to look at the cattle and I think that will still be the way a lot of people will do business. We are looking forward to getting back to some form of normality next Monday when we will welcome farmers back around Central Auctions rings.”

We have a long history of working with marts around the country

Commenting on the launch, Irish Farmers Journal editor and CEO Justin McCarthy said: "We’re delighted to be able to offer this service in partnership with livestock marts.

"We have a long history of working with marts around the country and, since 2017, we have been developing our MartBids app to bring technology to marts.

"COVID-19 has transformed the way people do business and marts are no different. We look forward to working with marts in the future in developing MartBids further to cater for their needs.”

Marts in operation

Central Auctions marts in Birr, Roscrea and Nenagh are using MartBids. Kilkenny Mart has been using MartBids for the last number of weeks with two rings in operation at the Thursday sales.

Aurivo marts have also come on board, with MartBids operating in both Balla and Ballinrobe. Tuam and Castlerea will be in operation next week, with Elphin also in operation on 15 June. A number of other marts are also in the process of being installed.

Farmers can register online at www.martbids.ie and can view sales as they take place around the country. Buyers can then request permission to buy online for the mart they wish to purchase at. Users can also download the MartBids app on the Apple App store or Google Play store.

One of the key strengths of the MartBids app is the catalogue function, which lists cattle entered for the sale as soon as they are booked into the mart that morning.

The Irish Farmers Journal team has a number of extra additions to add to the app in the coming weeks which will benefit marts, sellers and buyers. Stay tuned to www.farmersjournal.ie for updates.