Online selling is a godsend let’s just hope it works in a falling market

The way cattle are sold is changing, with more and more marts responding to the Covid restrictions by going online. Delvin, New Ross and Carrigallen have joined the list, while Gortatlea is planning to do so this week.

The logic is simple:

The technology is available and appears reliable.

The costs are not prohibitive. With the restrictions likely to operate for quite some time, it’s vital to find an efficient method to move meaningful numbers of stock through the system.

The tendering system worked, but it has too many drawbacks. The physical and mental effort to make it work is just not sustainable, I have been repeatedly told. The number of stock you can move on a given day does not justify all the time and labour required.

Fundamentally it comes down to numbers and money, and in the current situation, online selling ticks that box for the marts. Not to the same extent that the traditional system does, but it’s a long way ahead of any other option.

Everyone I’ve spoken to sees online selling as a positive, and feels it will be with us in some form when the Covid crisis has past.

One notable effect is that average prices are up as well as numbers.

Shortly after the lockdown began one mart manager in the west said to me, “never have factory prices been so relevant to those buying” when negotiations were happening on a one-to-one basis, the reference point for price was anchored firmly by the buyer to that week’s factory quote.

The seller was in effect operating in a bubble. He could take what was being offered or face the prospect of going through the whole tendering process again at a later date in the hope of doing better.

The online system eliminates that issue, opening the bidding up to any number of potential buyers.

Returning to those improved prices: as April slipped into May there was an increase as buyers frustrated with limited access to numbers pushed price boundaries in an effort to take out the opposition.

A number of managers I spoke with reckon prices across the board have risen by around €100-120/hd over the last three weeks.

My mini mart reports bear this out, with lighter 350-450kg continental store bullocks now trading from €2.40-2.70/kg and more on occasion.

However, I do have one question in relation to online selling: prices. In the spring prices often move rapidly upwards as those with grass to graze push on, but how well would the system work in a falling market or on a cold wet day in November?

Good trade:

clockwise from top, all at New Ross: A 675kg Piedmontese cow sold for €1,000; a Friesian cow, weighing 590kg, sold for €740; a 23-month-old, 435kg Limousin bullock sold for €810 at New Ross; while five 13-month-old Herefords-cross heifers, average weight 298 kg, made €740 apiece at New Ross.

Fundamentally it comes down to numbers and money, and in the current situation, online selling ticks that box for the marts