Corrin is tops for farmers

Happy days for those living off the land as commodity prices for milk, beef, mutton, pork etc. continue to increase. Not that you’d know it, as farmers are notoriously reticent when it comes to disclosing anything relating to income.

Away from cliches about farming being a vocation and having a deep connection with the soil, farming, like any other business is about profit and loss - hopefully, more profit than loss. It’s also about markets and market places - arenas that dictate the state of a farmer’s balance sheet.

CORRIN - A PLACE OF PILGRIMAGE FOR THE REGION’S FARMERS

One such market place is Corrin Livestock Mart, aka, Corrin Mart, Fermoy Mart, The Mart in Fermoy, The New Mart in Fermoy etc., etc. One of the country’s newest livestock marts, it was designed with a view to being multi-functional, i.e., able to host a variety of events - due to Covid, these events are firmly on hold. While, how farmers are doing business in Covid times has involved significant changes, the good news is that Corrin is successfully accommodating buyers and sellers.

It was and remains, a busy spot. Allowing for the absence of ringside bidders, there’s a steady flow of vehicles (mainly lorries, tractors and jeeps) ferrying animals to and from the centre.

EMBRACING TECHNOLOGY

Farmers are very set in their ways and don’t/can’t embrace technology. How wrong is that. Those whose business it is to purchase cattle are now doing so via mobile phones and tablets. They are, by all accounts, getting on, just fine. The sellers, who would normally be in the ‘confession box’, next to the auctioneer, are also at the end of their phones, poised to either accept or reject the market price.

A VISIT WITH A DIFFERENCE

We dropped into Corrin this week and can confirm all of the above - prices are good, the new system is working perfectly, everyone is getting paid on time and farmers are as reluctant as ever to declare, if they ‘did well’.

If that part of an assignment is challenging, try photographing rural Ireland’s finest - God knows how fellas like Fergal O’Gorman and his colleagues in The Farmer’s Journal do it every week. A combination of coercion, cajoling and downright begging eventually won the day, so, again, a sincere word of thanks to those who took the plunge and faced the camera.

(Pic: John Ahern) TRADITION OF FARMING: Rathcormac farmer, Dan Barry and his mother, Kathleen, who were at last Tuesday’s livestock mart in Corrin.

(Pic: John Ahern) FARMING FRIENDS: Farmers, Eddie Sheehan, Kilmurry, Kilworth (left) and Pat Hannon, Ballyduff Upper, who met at last Tuesday’s mart in Corrin.