Mart has 'lost a third of our business, but we will recover'

The country's cattle marts have taken a big hit this year due to coronavirus, 'but we will recover' Kilcullen Mart manager Jimmy Walsh told Ireland AM this morning, writes Brian Byrne.

Interviewed by the Virgin Media programme's Brianna Parkins, he said the mart has taken a 'huge wallop', losing a third of its business for the year. "The late March, early April period is the most profitable part of our year. It's when marts make enough to keep themselves going for the rest of the year. Our sister mart in Carlow normally sells a large number of calves during this time, but there were no calf sales this year. A huge blow, but one that we will recover from."

Jimmy said that since the marts were reopened two weeks ago, numbers are now back up to where they should be. "And hopefully they will continue to grow." He told Brianna that online sales have been good, but they are not a replacement for the traditional auction system in a live mart situation.

"It enables us to access customers who wouldn't normally be here, and there are quite a few of those. It's a convenience to regular buyers who might not be able to attend on the particular day. It's also useful to a buyer who wants to physically attend one sale but can also buy at another sale on the same day. They can bid from their car or their home."

The online system is also useful for busy sellers who can drop off their cattle in the morning and then watch them being sold online later in the day. But for all its benefits, Jimmy doesn't think online will replace the live ring sales. "What could replace the atmosphere of a live cattle ring going full belt, with a hundred people out there? The social atmosphere is irreplaceable. There's always a mix here. We all feed off the energy of it, the stories between one farmer and another, the whole interaction." He told a story of a farmer here last week and who said he'd had no one to talk to for three months only his wife. "Now he's back and he can't be stopped talking."

Before she finished, Jimmy gave Brianna the opportunity to auction a cattle lot. There was one bidder at the ring, and one online. She knocked the lot down to the man in the mart for €900.

"If I'm not back at work tomorrow, you'll know I've a new job," she told the studio before she signed off.

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