Closures appear inevitable in the west as falling numbers hit already vulnerable mart margins
Before and after:
A full house at Castlerea Mart in February; the scene at Carlow Mart two weeks ago with full restrictions in place. replace a ‘good auction day’.
“When the rings are full, there is an energy there that can never be captured on a camera.
“I see the online piece as a valuable bolt-on, and while it will definitely be a future part of mart trading I don’t see it as ever replacing the ringside auction when we do get going again,” he says.
With trading via a mart not an option at the moment, many farmers have turned to farm-to-farm sales via classified websites, notably DoneDeal.
Private deals such as these have gained traction in recent years, with some farmers viewing them as an opportunity to save on commission and time spent hanging around a mart.
However, there are some drawbacks as alluded to by IFA national livestock chairman Brendan Golden, who says farmers selling cattle directly should ensure that their payment is secure and warned they should be extremely careful about payment arrangements before parting with their stock.
“Sell through a local licensed mart where you know your payment is secure, or insist on payment upfront on the day is the best approach,” he advises.
“There are too many cases over the years where farmers have been promised payment, but it never materialised or they had to wait a very long time to get their money.”
Transparency
ICMSA president Pat McCormack says marts play a hugely important role in determining the value of cattle and the transparency of physical public sale.
“Marts face the challenge of the changing face of Irish farming with the growth in part-time farming and the greater specialisation of farming,” he says.
“To be fair to them, marts have been adapting to these changes and will have to continue to do so, whether by having more night sales and weekend sales, online sales as well as looking for way to speed up the sale of cattle given the time constraints farmers are under.
“In relation to calf sales, time-efficient sales, set prices and collection services will be important elements to explore.”
While the challenges facing the marts are unprecedented, they have shown their ability to ride out such crises in the past. The foot and mouth crisis in 2001 posed similar difficulties and most marts managed to find a way to survive.
“The mart sector has been extremely resilient,” Doyle says, highlighting that people have been writing off the sector for years.
However, he says the goal for most marts is more about providing a service rather than maximising profit and this makes their ability to overcome hardships remarkable.
But with estimates suggesting that marts may face restrictions for another year and farmers every day finding new ways to buy and sell stock, if the old adage that it takes two months to form a habit holds, the mart sector that re-emerges postquota may be much changed.
THERE appears to be a widespread acceptance that some marts may be forced to close and some possibly need to close if others are to survive.
This is especially true in the west and north-west, where mart numbers appear disproportionally high relative to the numbers of stock available.
However, resistance to closures is widespread, based in part on the belief that communities need their marts to help keep money in their areas.
“Everyone recognises the need for closures, but none will close if they can help it,” was a common response when I spoke to mart managers this week.
But the reality is that while marts perform an important social function, that is entirely secondary to their need to make a profit. Profit requires revenue, and revenue means a need for numbers.
Falling numbers, especially those from the suckler herd, has led to reduced revenue while costs, especially those associated with insurance, have risen. The changeover to dairy
Ballymote Mart
The numbers of cattle and sheep going through the marts at present are not covering costs, according to Stephen Hannon. He thinks online selling may be here to stay.
“It’s proving very popular and will probably have a role to play going forward. However, mart running costs, falling numbers and now Covid-19 look like the perfect storm.
“Every parish wants its own mart, but I don’t think that can continue.”
Dowra
Patsy Smith calculates his fall-off in throughput because of Covid-19 at 40-45pc, but identifies a bigger issue in the background.
“Revenue will be reduced because of the virus but throughput has being falling for the last number of year because of the fall-off in suckler numbers. That’s the real issue.”
The marts with the best reserves, he says, will be the ones that survive.
Listowel
Because of his dependence on the dairy side of the trade, particularly in relation to cull cows, Barney O’Connell says he has only seen 40pc of what he would normally expect at this time of the year.
“They are a big loss for sure. Dairymen have kept their culls because they had the grass. It’s a wipe-out on our balance sheet though.
@I don’t really see numbers coming now until the autumn.”
He also predicts that some marts will close permanently because of the virus.
Kanturk
Seamus O’Keeffe says he’s back 40pc in numbers. While others point to the lack of young people entering the dry stock business as a huge issue Seamus points out that “the lack of young people entering farming was an issue 20 years ago so it’s not new”.
Marts though, he says, are the only true indicator of the market and prices and will survive because of that.
Sixmilebridge
“Our numbers were back around 50pc in April but I believe there are still a lot of cattle to come. In general marts should be okay if they have reserves but every mart is different,” says Sean Ryan.
He also says that having three organisations representing marts has not helped them open quicker.
“We have three organisations claiming to represent us. Is the minister getting a clear picture? I don’t think so, meaning the HSE isn’t getting a clear picture either.”