Level five COVID-19 lockdown rules proved unworkable in Tullamore on Saturday at the Irish Charolais society’s first sale of the year.

This was the first of the many breed society pedigree sales set to take place over the coming months.

Department rules mean all exhibitors must leave their animals unattended for the prospective buyers’ viewing time, which in this case was the three hours ahead of the sale.

The entirety of the sale must then take place online, with no ringside bidders.

It was chaotic, it’s not practical and it doesn’t work

Another rule which caused concern was that while the sale was in progress a maximum of six people could be in the mart yard, meaning exhibitors got no time to prepare bulls ahead of entering the sales ring.

‘Not practical’

Speaking after the sale, society secretary Nevan McKiernan said: “It was chaotic, it’s not practical and it doesn’t work.

“There’s a process they can put in place here that’s safe for everyone but that’s not the case now.

“It has to happen because we’re going to see bad trade across the board otherwise.”

Safety officer on the day was FRS head of health and safety Jim Dockery, who said: “Sellers were frustrated not knowing what’s happening.

“We understand we’re in a pandemic but we need to agree parameters around each mart, so we can implement a strategy well in advance. That didn’t happen today.”

As mentioned by McKiernan, trade was affected which resulted in 38% going unsold on the day.

Highlight

There were some highlights, however, with prices reaching €7,100 for Roughan Philip.

Bred and exhibited by Pat McClean, the June 2019-born Philip is a son of Roughan Justbeau, with French breeding all the way back.

With a calving figure of just 4.4%, he was knocked down to a NI buyer.

Full report to follow

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