A new reality for Carnew Mart as doors shut

ALL at Carnew Mart are still coming to terms with the new reality after further government regulations to prevent the spread of Covid-19 that were announced last week forced closure.

David Quinn of Carnew Mart told this newspaper that the team are continuing to look for clarification from the Department of Agriculture on the matter and will not be conducting business for now, but all are hopeful that the mart will reopen again after April 16.

Just a few days before Tuesday’s announcement, the Saturday sale at the mart had gone ahead with new hygiene regulations put in place.

‘We had appointed members of staff to police social distancing and we had limited the number of people allowed in but we were open and operating, albeit in a very different way to the normal way we operate. We had to enforce very stringent rules which were brought in about a week before, but we found that it worked very well and got great cooperation from all our customers. I suppose we thought that we’d be able to continue on with that.

‘We sold over 1,000 ahead of stock last Saturday and it was surreal to be doing it, there was just a handful of people around the ring but we worked it. We were surprised when the news was announced on Tuesday as the advice from the Department that we had been getting was that they were keen to keep the marts going for as long as possible. But the rules are the rules, and we have been closed since Tuesday’.

David described the move as a blow to farmers, and that the only relief they might have this week is good weather.

‘It’s just that the time of the year we’re at, it’s a critical time for farmers, particularly with calves and store cattle coming out of the sheds. There’s a number of people that have livestock but haven’t got the feeding, or the facilities to hold onto them. They need to move them.

‘On the other side of it, particularly with the good weather we saw last week, they have grass coming and they need to buy materials as well.

‘Since the announcement, the phone as never stopped with calls from customers who are in a bad way trying to move and sell livestock. We’ll hope it’s just short term but there’s no doubt this is a huge change for farmers.

‘Farmers this week will be busy doing their tillage, with the sheep farming, lambing and the dairy farmers with their cows but the weather is the one big plus. Farmers’ mood depends on whether they’re busy and when they’re busy they are not contemplating everything else that’s going on so their mood is relatively good but that’s driven by the fact that they are getting spring work done’.

David said that if the mart was to remain closed until May or June, that this would be quite damaging for the sector.

‘While there will be a certain amount of private sales and trading, if this continues into the summer it will have a significant impact on the mart business and the whole trade. It’s the live option that fix the price of livestock, and most likely prices will be driven downwards, which will be a loss to marts as well as farmers and vendors.

‘ This is unprecedented, we did go through the closure during the foot and mouth epidemic but that was four months from late February until early July. To one degree it’s similar, but to a degree it’s not because it was just the farming community that was affected by that but everything was moving and life went on in every other sector. You could socialise so it was just a break as you wouldn’t be at the mart on a Saturday. But this is a far more serious situation that we’re in, given the health implications and the fear of what’s to come down the line. This is different’.