At the mart...

muckymanor said:
Almost every animal through mohill is sold in singles. It would be a much better idea to split the sale so that cattle could be brought in closer to the time of sale. It was suggested before but rejected on health and safety grounds.

They have had a few big enough sales since christmas (300+animals). Animals come mainly from a 30 mile radius of the mart. 80% of the animals sold there come from outside the county - Longford, Cavan, Roscommon and Sligo. Its not unusual to see animals being sold there that have travelled 80 to 100 miles.
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Fuck me no wonder the sale is so long
Hardly any singles sold round here
Usually pens of 3+
 
jay gatsby said:
The right way to do it. Singles is crazy and I'm speaking as someone that only buys a handful. Sale dragging on the whole day and cattle kept for hours needlessly
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Would many lads just enter as singles even if they are bringing 2/4/6 to the mart that day?
 
headcase said:
Fuck me no wonder the sale is so long
Hardly any singles sold round here
Usually pens of 3+
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I have grown to hate marts. Online selling has been a blessing. I'll drop the animals off close to the draw time and then go off doing my jobs and check in online a few times so that I can be back in the sellers box to sell them and spend as little time around the ring as I can.

Funny enough I can watch a sale online and it doesnt bother me. It has been a long number of years since I bought an animal in a mart.
 
It seems that buyers go after multiple lots especially if good quality.havingsaid that in Ballymahon the vast majority are singles
 
selling singles is ok if there is a good auctioneer and doesn't allow messing round the ring. bid if your buying and no messing other wise.
when an auctioneer came to the local calf mart he sold them like lightening.staff could hardly keep calves moved quick enough for him.
buyers got used to the system and no auld messing of 1 and 2 euro bids til the closing bid etc
 
I have sold a load of fat friesians in kerry in one lot more than once. They had to be weighed in 2 lots. The buyers love it once they are an even bunch and bid as good as ive seen for friesians . I cant stand to see identical cattle selling single and buyers in general dont like it, thats feed back i got. I also think should be extra charge for single lots or less commission for large lots
 
marco said:
We usually match off similar animals together. So if selling 20 we could have 2s 3s 4s and sometimes 5s depending on colour breed size etc
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That's the way to do it, match by age and size and breed.

Nothing annoys me more than a bunch of say 5 comes in and 12 months between the oldest and youngest.

Unless finishing off buying for a period, I hate buying singles as you dont know if that's the only animal that you will get that day. If I have a bunch I'll buy a single but more often than not, they are single for a reason

Most here are sold in bunches.
 
I heard ah unreliable report of calves getting no bid later last week, has anyone seen any major changes in trade?
The latest fertilizer scare may have an effect.
 
There will need to be some action taken before next year. Extremely poor carry on by some dairy farmers, bringing in calfs clearly not as old as stated on the cards, the calf mart I looked at the last month was awash with poor calves that they couldn't get a bid on, good FR and coloured calves on the other hand made very good money. Lads who don't have the facilities to keep up with expanding numbers simply dumping calves into the mart rather bringing them in when they are ready, two weeks ago there was 100 or more calves unsold the lads in the mart were there until 3am feeding calves milk then couldn't get lads to come collect them the next day. The mart manager should be checking calves as they are being taken in and 2 sales a week for the short few weeks, having over a thousand calves being sold until nearly 11 o clock at night is a waste of time when there is a poor market any poor calf in the later stage of the mart is not going to sell people have their business done.
 
The reality most of them calves being given away are value to the buyer ,I cant see how they could go wrong .I always keep calves up to 6 weeks + before selling and you could never really have good enough you feel .It is not like any of them calves are stagering ,some might be a bit leggy that makes them look underfed ,it is just the market this year is poor for all calves
 
In my view its as basic as this, any farmer with livestock has a duty of care towards every animal and that doesn't end until they are in someone else's ownership.

If you can't/won't provide care to all of your stock then you are not fulfilling your obligations. I dont understand how any farmer could put calves in a mart for 12 hours or more and not come back for them or ensure they are fed and cared for.. Quite frankly it would turn my stomach if its true
 
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