Castleblayney Livestock Sales has, over the past five-and-a-half decades, established a stellar reputation as one of Ireland’s premier marts. We travelled to County Monaghan and caught up with Connell Nugent to find out more about this exceptional family-run operation, which provides farmers from both sides of the border with an invaluable service.
They travel from near and far to Castleblayney Livestock Sales – from all over the Farney County, the Cooley Peninsula, south Armagh, the Breffni County, sometimes parts of Meath and Down. Often, buyers and sellers come from even further afield. For many, this long-serving and pioneering market is a way of life, a part of their very livelihoods.
When the sales start, the south Monaghan border town is a hive of activity. The business is serious but there’s plenty of craic and banter too. The mart has recently been revamped to the tune of €750,000 and Connell Nugent is pleased to report that business remains brisk:
“It’s going very well. We’re in a unique position in that we are the only mart that specialises in all stock – cattle, sheep, horses, pigs and goats. Nobody else does pigs but we provide that service to cater for the smaller farmers. In September / October / November, you could have 300-400 animals here each day. It’s goes quiet for a couple of months but starts to get busy again in late February, with most of the farmers coming from Monaghan and parts of Louth and Cavan.”
‘Blayney Mart was established in 1963 by Connell’s late father, Edward Paul Nugent, who recognised the need to move away from the old system of street fairs where each farmer had to haggle with buyers to sell his animals. He saw that the mart system was much fairer to the vendor as potential buyers had to bid against each other, thus achieving a higher price. Edward was obviously right as Castleblayney Livestock Sales is still going strong more than half a century later, with tweaks made here and there to accommodate and facilitate farmers as much as possible…
For example, since October, 2015 the sheep auction has been held on Saturday mornings to suit part-time farmers. “We moved that sale from Monday, after 50 years,” Connell reveals. “A lot of the farmers who attend come over from the Cooley Mountains and would be only part-time in sheep. We thought Saturdays would suit them better and there has been a big increase in throughput.”
Horse and donkey auctions take place on the second Saturday of each month. Cattle auctions were traditionally held on Thursdays but were changed to Fridays more than ten years ago, after when Carrickmacross Mart closed.
Connell Nugent has managed the business since 1980, ably assisted by his sister Carmel, sister-in-law Maura plus three girls in the office, together with up to ten part-time yard staff. Connell is a Chartered Surveyor and a member of both the Irish Society of Chartered Surveyors and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors in London.
In conjunction with the livestock mart, the Nugent family also run E P Nugent Ltd. – Chartered Surveyors, Auctioneers, Valuers and Real Estate Agents.
It’s all fine and well providing the infrastructure to bring together buyers and sellers of livestock – but how difficult is it to run ‘Blayney Mart as a viable commercial operation? “It’s becoming increasingly difficult but we have invested a lot of money in revamping the mart over the past three-four years and it’s all brand new. There are excellent facilities here now.
“We also have the auctioneering business as well and sell a good bit of property. With the agri connection there, the two businesses run hand in hand. As well as property, we’ve sold a lot of land down through the years, not just locally but as far away as Belfast, Tyrone, Mayo etc. The two businesses complement each other extremely well.”
In keeping with the times that are in it, the mart is fully computerised and accommodates online sales. “We were the second of the bigger marts in the country to introduce online sales and we have a good customer base who like to avail of that service,” Connell confirms. “We’ve sold cattle online to buyers in Texas and Poland and the feedback has been very positive. They are very happy with the quality of the camera work, which is encouraging to hear.”
Not surprisingly, Connell is from a farming background himself and keeps a bit of lamb, while three brothers specialise in dry stock. Being a farmer himself offers a great insight into the mind set of those who attend Castleblayney Livestock Sales and enables him to provide a service tailored to their exact needs.
“Farmers are very resilient,” he notes. “Most of them are in it part time but for anyone who’s doing it full time, it’s hard work and margins are very tight. A lot of them have diversified into mushrooms or chickens or pigs as well as cattle or into a trade, rather than depending entirely on a farm income because the money just isn’t in it at the minute.”
Castleblayney Livestock Sales,
Muckno Street,
Castleblayney,
County Monaghan.
Tel: 042 9740712
Fax: 042 9751975
Mobile: 087 2416830
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.castleblayneymart.com
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 5 No 2, March 2017
