The Dealer was intrigued to see ICOS, the umbrella body for marts and co-ops, come out in support of the Glanbia-Kepak Twenty20 club.

The scheme, which targets 50,000 calves to contract finish to beef, has excluded marts from trading any calves associated with the scheme.

If you take a conservative figure of €5 commission on the calves to the seller and €3 to the buyer, that’s a potential €400,000 taken out of mart revenue.