Mart managers dig deep to keep sales moo-ving
TRADING at Enniscorthy and New Ross marts has resumed on a limited basis under new measures announced by the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed on Tuesday.
Marts closed in late March due to fears about the spread of coronavirus, but marts will now be able to provide a limited range of services under the measures, including facilitating calf sales and weighing livestock.
The Department of Agriculture said a farmer can deliver calves to the mart by appointment and the mart can facilitate the sale.
For older livestock, the mart can also allow a deal between a buyer and seller, in specific circumstances.
Minister Creed said the measures will allow the food chain to be maintained and protect animals’ welfare and that normal mart activity ‘cannot resume until further notice’.
Mr Creed said the economic impacts of the coronavirus crisis on agricultural and other commodity prices ‘are only beginning to be felt and are likely to be severe’.
‘For many families, this impact will be compounded by the loss of off-farm employment. I am asking the food industry to do whatever it can to support its thousands of farmer suppliers at this time,’ he said.
Enniscorthy mart manager Tommy Harrington said an assembly of calves was organised on Thursday which saw every animal sold.
He said: ‘We can assemble calves here. If we have sellers that need to unload stock we can facilitate that. We have to find out what kind of quality stock they have. The calf situation is different as the shippers and dealers are buying them.’
Mr Harrington said the sale of older animals is taking time, but is working so far.
‘ The process is they are brought in and left in the yard. I am the in-between guy.’
He said one positive is that the crisis didn’t happen in the late autumn/early winter period as that would have sparked panic. He said with warmer weather comes grass growth which means animals will be able to go out on the fields more without damaging them.
Young farmers have adapted quickly to the new system, he said.
‘ The young farmers are smart and they know exactly how much kilos they want. It’s taking the older generation of farmers more time to familiarise themselves with the new set up. We had a collection here Thursday and there was no calf went home and the cheques have gone out. This week I’ll be letting all calves in. When they are in I’ll look at them as I have to get a fair value for them. It’s not easy but there is no other way. There are a lot of farmers putting cattle on Done Deal and you don’t know who you are dealing with.’
New Ross Mart assistant manager Dick Meaney said an assembly was also held at the mart in Rosbercon on Thursday.
Buyers remained in their jeeps and the mart sales team had to get the highest bid for the animals.
‘For the older cattle a seller rings us up with details of the kind of cattle he is selling and a buyer puts a bid in. The issue is people need to see cattle before they buy them. The department are saying if you can get an agreement in place then you can take them into the mart to be weighed. We are showing the owner the weight and the buyer the weight, but it’s so hit and miss. You have fellas who agree a price on cattle and when the farmers come they might decide not to. We are trying to line up people over the phone to sell and buy and had work done in the background last week based on the presumption we’d be allowed to go ahead.’
Describing last Thursday’s assembly as a test run, Mr Meaney said: ‘We had close on a clean out of all calves. Time will tell when we’ll be up and running fully here. It could be a week or a couple of months.’