Established in 2005 as the result of a merger of Birr, Nenagh and Roscrea Co-op Marts, Central Auctions Co-Operative Marts is a farmer-owned co-operative with some 1,500 shareholders. We caught up with CEO Michael Harty to get an insight into the synergies inherent in this remarkable success story.
While Central Auctions Co-Operative Marts is in some respects a relatively newly-formed group, the three merging societies – Birr, Nenagh and Roscrea – have, due to their central and accessible locations, a long tradition dating back over 60 years in serving the needs of farmers not only in the immediate catchment areas but from many other parts of the country.
The balance sheet has grown from €2.2m in the first year of trading (2005) to €5.2m in 2017, with a turnover of in excess of €50m from an impressive throughput of 60,000 cattle and 25,000 sheep recorded last year. At the start of May of this year, Toomevara man Michael Harty was announced as the new chief executive officer of Central Auctions, succeeding fellow Tipperary native Matt Malone.
From a strong farming background himself, Michael boasts a wealth of experience and knowledge of the livestock industry, having previously served as general manager of marts in Granard, Athenry and Kilkenny. A well-respected property and livestock auctioneer, he joined Central Auctions as operations manager in August, ’05.
“Central Auctions came into being on January 1st, 2005 and it was a brave move at the time for three completely-independent co-operative marts to come together like this,” he notes. “It took off from there and has been a resounding success story.”
Naturally, economies of scale have played a key role in the success of the amalgamated body. “There were a number of advantage to coming together and one of these is that we have a lot of shared staff who work at all three marts,” says the CEO.
Central Auctions livestock sales centres are noted for the sale of commercial and pedigree cattle and sheep and also provide a general auctioneering service, including property and land sales, lettings and valuations. There has been continuous investment in the facilities at Birr, Nenagh and Roscrea over the years, geared towards optimising customer convenience and service. This includes computerisation and electronic information systems displaying EBI and beef genomics data where farmers increasingly buy cattle based on their genetic profile.
“At Birr Mart, we have general cattle sales on Mondays and dairy sales on Thursdays in March and April,” Michael continues. “General cattle sales in Nenagh are on Tuesdays, with dairy sales between January and May on Wednesdays. We also have pedigree Hereford, Friesian and Angus sales in March or April. Roscrea, meanwhile, has sheep sales every Wednesday, general cattle sales on Fridays and weanling sales on Wednesday evenings from September until December.”
Nenagh is widely regarded as one of Ireland’s premier co-op marts for dairy sales, while Roscrea is renowned for pedigree Limousin and Suffolk Sheep Society sales.
Between them, the three marts generate employment for 35 people. “We cover a very large catchment area, with buyers and sellers coming regularly from counties Offaly, Laois, Kilkenny, Tipperary, South Galway, East Clare and parts of Limerick.”
Regarding the omgoing investment in the three sites, Michael continues: “As a co-operative mart, we have ploughed a lot of money back into the facilities over the years and will continue to do so. For example, we have new display boards in all of our rings, covered intake areas, effluent treatment systems and upgraded yards.
“There are also new cattle pens going in in Nenagh, so the improvements are constant and are aimed at making the marts as comfortable as possible both for the animals and the farmers. We also have excellent canteen facilities in all three marts. As a farmer-owned co-operative society and a member of ICOS (Irish Co-operative Organisation Society), all our activities are ultimately geared towards the betterment and improvement of farmers’ lives.”
Michael is not afraid to embrace new technology wherever it is practical to do so. To this end, he informed us that Central Auctions was at the time of writing at an experimental phase of trialling a new Bidding App in conjunction with ICOS and The Farmers Journal.
“As we appreciate the time restrictions on farmers, especially dairy farmers, we’re striving to provide more services in terms of assembling stock and selling cattle on their behalf,” the CEO adds.
“I have to compliment our board, which was formed from representatives of the three marts, who all came together for the common good. Obviously, with such a large undertaking, there were some teething problems but everybody was focussed on making it work and it has proven to be a very successful venture to date, with business increasing year on year.”
Looking to the future, Michael Harty is cautiously optimistic that Central Auctions can continue to go from strength to strength. But there will be no resting on one’s laurels…
“As marts are facing a lot of challenges, with plenty of outside influences, it would be an achievement in itself to hold what we have,” he concludes. “We can achieve this through unlocking greater efficiencies, improving our service levels even further and increasing the adaptability of our services.”
Central Auctions Co-Operative Marts,
Fair Green,
Birr,
County Offaly.
Tel: 057 9120136
Stafford Street,
Nenagh,
County Tipperary.
Tel: 067 31360
Parkmore,
Roscrea,
County Tipperary.
Tel: 0505 21687
Fax: 067 31849
Email: [email protected]
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 5 No 8, December 2017/January 2018
Central Auctions Co-Operative Marts
