Marts have reopened their doors after a period of disruption during the busiest two months of trading in the year.
There were almost 500,000 cattle traded through Irish livestock marts in April and May 2019. The Taoiseach’s announcement that no livestock sales were to take place from 13 March was a massive blow to marts and farmers have had to deal with the loss of sales outlets.
While some marts chose to operate tender sales and weighing services, it meant a lot of extra work for marts and it is hard to get the value out of good-quality animals in a tender sale.
Marts then moved to an online system with no farmers present in the mart and bids being taken from phones, laptops and desktops around the country. The vast majority of buyers view the cattle on the morning of the sale and then bid online.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal,
ICOS livestock services executive Ray Doyle said farmers have delayed selling animals over the last few months and added that Department of Agriculture figures confirm this is the case.
“As of the first week of May, marts were back, not surprisingly, 30% in their throughput compared to this time last year. Farm-to-farm movements are only up 15% albeit on smaller numbers so the cattle are still there, the sheep are still there. Farmers, I suppose, just weren’t confident enough to trade the animals in a non-proven fashion and, as well as that, we had the fortunate position where the spring was early and there were plentiful supplies of cheap fodder. This has led to the situation we hope where these animals will now return to the marts,” Doyle said.
“It is fantastic that the live auction is back, albeit with reduced numbers ringside due to adherence to the 2m social distancing requirement. It is a good start though and it is where animals are truly valued,” Doyle said.
“We can now see where the true value of cattle and sheep is now that the public auction system has returned fully and we can only look forward that at some later date we will have the mart back to the social piece that it once was because currently all that came back today [Monday] was the business piece.
“It really isn’t business as usual, it’s simply business today and buyers and sellers are monitored and supervised and continue to be curtailed in their attendance at marts”
Mart trade value
“Approximately 1.7m to 1.8m cattle are traded through marts, 1.5m sheep are traded through marts and that has a gross overall value approaching in the region of €1.6bn to €1.7bn. That is generated in rural communities from Malin Head to Mizen Head and everywhere in between. It’s money in GDP that’s created and spent in Ireland so it is of vital importance to rural Ireland that the marts are up and running again because we are the conduit to distributing these funds,” Doyle said.
“[We are] looking forward to the future, the integration of online and physical sales is one of the key benefits and the key positives that is after coming out of COVID-19”.
Farmer views: ‘A good one is still hard bought’
Martin Leetch
Martin Leetch, Ballintubber, Co Roscommon
“It’s a massive day for Castlerea Mart to move to online selling and it’s great to see people back around the ring. I don’t think we realised how important marts were to farmers until the last two months. Beef farming is a tough business and when we sell we need to know we are getting the best price we can and marts in fairness have moved to facilitate that. I have weanlings here today and I need to be getting €1,000+ for them to cover my costs but it’s hard to average that. That’s why we need supports to underpin these systems.”
Ronnie Armitage, Nenagh, Co Tipperary
Ronnie Armitage
“I’ve been going to marts for 55 years and I’ve seen a lot of changes down through the years but this has probably been the biggest. People said it wouldn’t work but if you want the cattle you’ll change to do whatever you need to do to get them. I’ve bought in a couple of marts and I’m happy enough. You have to see the cattle on the morning of a sale and I wouldn’t dream of buying them off a video. We’re buying good heifers for finishing and you have to see them. It hasn’t slowed the trade and a good one is still hard bought.”
John Ryan, auctioneer, Birr Mart, Co Offaly
John Ryan and David White at Birr Mart
“It was surreal to be selling to an empty ring, looking at stock and then taking the bids online. Certainly the atmosphere was much more similar to previous sales with the ringside and the participation of those at ringside.
“We had interest right throughout from both online and around the ring. It is a bit of a difficulty yet because the social aspect is the jostling around the ring and the banter that goes on. I hope that’s one thing that won’t be lost but if they have to put up with it how it is, the 2m spacing as opposed to not being in it at all, then they’ll take the 2m spacing any day of the week. People appreciate the difficulties that marts are in, and they’re playing their part as much as they can to bring it to normal situation.”
George Chandler, auctioneer, Kilkenny Mart
Auctioneer George Candler at Kilkenny mart calf sale. \ Philip Doyle
“Buyers come look at the stock, take the numbers, go away and get work done and then just be online to bid. It means you don’t have to have a full day in the mart to get three or four lots. Also the ring itself can be intimidating; this way lads can tip away on the phone without a problem. From an auctioneer’s point of view it’s good to see faces in front of you again. There are people out there that wouldn’t be as up to date with technology and they feel more comfortable back in the ring so it’s good to be able to cater for them again. It’s challenging but it’s here to stay and we have to progress. I’m sure in time it will also become an even bigger part of the pedigree scene.”
Marts have reopened their doors after a period of disruption during the busiest two months of trading in the year.
There were almost 500,000 cattle traded through Irish livestock marts in April and May 2019. The Taoiseach’s announcement that no livestock sales were to take place from 13 March was a massive blow to marts and farmers have had to deal with the loss of sales outlets.
While some marts chose to operate tender sales and weighing services, it meant a lot of extra work for marts and it is hard to get the value out of good-quality animals in a tender sale.
Marts then moved to an online system with no farmers present in the mart and bids being taken from phones, laptops and desktops around the country. The vast majority of buyers view the cattle on the morning of the sale and then bid online.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal,
ICOS livestock services executive Ray Doyle said farmers have delayed selling animals over the last few months and added that Department of Agriculture figures confirm this is the case.
“As of the first week of May, marts were back, not surprisingly, 30% in their throughput compared to this time last year. Farm-to-farm movements are only up 15% albeit on smaller numbers so the cattle are still there, the sheep are still there. Farmers, I suppose, just weren’t confident enough to trade the animals in a non-proven fashion and, as well as that, we had the fortunate position where the spring was early and there were plentiful supplies of cheap fodder. This has led to the situation we hope where these animals will now return to the marts,” Doyle said.
“It is fantastic that the live auction is back, albeit with reduced numbers ringside due to adherence to the 2m social distancing requirement. It is a good start though and it is where animals are truly valued,” Doyle said.
“We can now see where the true value of cattle and sheep is now that the public auction system has returned fully and we can only look forward that at some later date we will have the mart back to the social piece that it once was because currently all that came back today [Monday] was the business piece.
“It really isn’t business as usual, it’s simply business today and buyers and sellers are monitored and supervised and continue to be curtailed in their attendance at marts”
Mart trade value
“Approximately 1.7m to 1.8m cattle are traded through marts, 1.5m sheep are traded through marts and that has a gross overall value approaching in the region of €1.6bn to €1.7bn. That is generated in rural communities from Malin Head to Mizen Head and everywhere in between. It’s money in GDP that’s created and spent in Ireland so it is of vital importance to rural Ireland that the marts are up and running again because we are the conduit to distributing these funds,” Doyle said.
“[We are] looking forward to the future, the integration of online and physical sales is one of the key benefits and the key positives that is after coming out of COVID-19”.
Farmer views: ‘A good one is still hard bought’
Martin Leetch
Martin Leetch, Ballintubber, Co Roscommon
“It’s a massive day for Castlerea Mart to move to online selling and it’s great to see people back around the ring. I don’t think we realised how important marts were to farmers until the last two months. Beef farming is a tough business and when we sell we need to know we are getting the best price we can and marts in fairness have moved to facilitate that. I have weanlings here today and I need to be getting €1,000+ for them to cover my costs but it’s hard to average that. That’s why we need supports to underpin these systems.”
Ronnie Armitage, Nenagh, Co Tipperary
Ronnie Armitage
“I’ve been going to marts for 55 years and I’ve seen a lot of changes down through the years but this has probably been the biggest. People said it wouldn’t work but if you want the cattle you’ll change to do whatever you need to do to get them. I’ve bought in a couple of marts and I’m happy enough. You have to see the cattle on the morning of a sale and I wouldn’t dream of buying them off a video. We’re buying good heifers for finishing and you have to see them. It hasn’t slowed the trade and a good one is still hard bought.”
John Ryan, auctioneer, Birr Mart, Co Offaly
John Ryan and David White at Birr Mart
“It was surreal to be selling to an empty ring, looking at stock and then taking the bids online. Certainly the atmosphere was much more similar to previous sales with the ringside and the participation of those at ringside.
“We had interest right throughout from both online and around the ring. It is a bit of a difficulty yet because the social aspect is the jostling around the ring and the banter that goes on. I hope that’s one thing that won’t be lost but if they have to put up with it how it is, the 2m spacing as opposed to not being in it at all, then they’ll take the 2m spacing any day of the week. People appreciate the difficulties that marts are in, and they’re playing their part as much as they can to bring it to normal situation.”
George Chandler, auctioneer, Kilkenny Mart
Auctioneer George Candler at Kilkenny mart calf sale. \ Philip Doyle
“Buyers come look at the stock, take the numbers, go away and get work done and then just be online to bid. It means you don’t have to have a full day in the mart to get three or four lots. Also the ring itself can be intimidating; this way lads can tip away on the phone without a problem. From an auctioneer’s point of view it’s good to see faces in front of you again. There are people out there that wouldn’t be as up to date with technology and they feel more comfortable back in the ring so it’s good to be able to cater for them again. It’s challenging but it’s here to stay and we have to progress. I’m sure in time it will also become an even bigger part of the pedigree scene.”
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: