Tullow Mart celebrated 70 years of operation last Friday with a cake-cutting, food for all, and a display of photos from sales and events through the years.
Fittingly, the main event on the day was a cattle sale, where the stock was typically of high quality, with the strong prices gained reflective of that fact.
The event was attended by Alice Doyle, the IFA deputy president and a Tullow native, as well as local politicians, and current and former mart directors. All three mart managers through the mart’s storied history were also present. Pat O’Farrell, who was manager from 1969 to 1978, said “mart day has always been the day that farmers bring their business to the town. People would buy and sell stock, and go to the vets, the merchants or the machinery dealer”.
John Murphy took over in 1978, and steered the mart through some difficult periods.
“When BSE hit in the 1990s, that was a challenge for all of us in the cattle trade,” he said, but foot-and-mouth disease, which saw the mart closed for six months in 2001, “was much harder still”.
Sheep sales were prioritised under Murphy’s stewardship of the mart, as expanded facilities helped Tullow Sheep Breeders August sale become the first significant sale of the year.
Current manager Eric Driver spoke of how the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020 heralded the advent of online sales.
“It was a dark time for many, but COVID gave us the push that we needed to step into the hybrid system of online and live sales, which has given us back that marketability”.
“It’s a team effort in Tullow mart,” continued Driver.
“We’re all there together, it’s a very agricultural town, and Tullow Mart is at the heart of that. The focus of our directors, many of whom are the second generation to have served in that capacity, is very much to run a business and drive the business, but always remembering the huge social importance of Tullow Mart, for the people who come here weekly, and for the wider business and agricultural community.”
The three men who have managed Tullow mart over the years, John Murphy, Eric Driver and Pat O'Farrell.
\ Philip Doyle
Tullow Mart celebrated 70 years of operation last Friday with a cake-cutting, food for all, and a display of photos from sales and events through the years.
Fittingly, the main event on the day was a cattle sale, where the stock was typically of high quality, with the strong prices gained reflective of that fact.
The event was attended by Alice Doyle, the IFA deputy president and a Tullow native, as well as local politicians, and current and former mart directors. All three mart managers through the mart’s storied history were also present. Pat O’Farrell, who was manager from 1969 to 1978, said “mart day has always been the day that farmers bring their business to the town. People would buy and sell stock, and go to the vets, the merchants or the machinery dealer”.
John Murphy took over in 1978, and steered the mart through some difficult periods.
“When BSE hit in the 1990s, that was a challenge for all of us in the cattle trade,” he said, but foot-and-mouth disease, which saw the mart closed for six months in 2001, “was much harder still”.
Sheep sales were prioritised under Murphy’s stewardship of the mart, as expanded facilities helped Tullow Sheep Breeders August sale become the first significant sale of the year.
Current manager Eric Driver spoke of how the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020 heralded the advent of online sales.
“It was a dark time for many, but COVID gave us the push that we needed to step into the hybrid system of online and live sales, which has given us back that marketability”.
“It’s a team effort in Tullow mart,” continued Driver.
“We’re all there together, it’s a very agricultural town, and Tullow Mart is at the heart of that. The focus of our directors, many of whom are the second generation to have served in that capacity, is very much to run a business and drive the business, but always remembering the huge social importance of Tullow Mart, for the people who come here weekly, and for the wider business and agricultural community.”
The three men who have managed Tullow mart over the years, John Murphy, Eric Driver and Pat O'Farrell.
\ Philip Doyle
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