Livestock Marts are an integral part of Irish society and for many generations they have been the focal point for the farming community. Not only are they a place to buy and sell your livestock, but they are also a place to discuss the latest trials and tribulations within the industry.
In the majority of cases, the marts are owned by the farmers themselves where Co-Ops are formed and each farmer becomes a shareholder. One may wonder how can a mart work properly if there are so many shareholders, but the fact is that they are all working towards the one goal and that is to provide an efficient, well run business.
To help achieve these goals an experienced staff is necessary and for this month’s edition of Irish Tractor & Agri, we profile one of the oldest marts in Connacht, Ballinasloe Co-operative Livestock Mart.
Established in 1958, with the aim of providing a viable market for local farmers, the mart has gone from strength to strength and there are now 850 shareholders.
The town occupies a strategic location on the N6 route linking Dublin and Galway and is one of the principle gateways to the west. It is the largest urban area in County Galway after Galway City. The town is situated approximately 30.5km (19miles) west of Athlone and 67.5km (42miles) east of Galway and this sees its customer base cover wider region of East Galway, South Roscommon, extending into parts of Westmeath, Offaly, Tipperary and beyond.
Ballinasloe Mart manager is Eilish Curley who has held the position for the past two years, although she has worked there for the past 31 years, so her experience and knowledge of the mart is unrivalled.
“We provide three main sales on a weekly basis. On Wednesday, we have cattle sales, Thursday’s are sheep sales, then Saturday’s are weanling and suckler cow sales,” said Eilish.
“Equine Sales are provided on a seasonal basis, like Connemara Pony Sale, Irish Cob Sale, General Horse Sale, etc. We continually strive to improve our service to ensure our customers have the best market place to sell and buy livestock in terms of price, quality and choice.
“With the motorway only five minutes away, we are in a prime location here and our customer base is drawn from many counties. The mart is a place where farmers can meet and discuss their issues. Many a problem has been solved, while sitting at the parade ring.”
Last year saw in the region of 31,000 cattle go through the mart, while 47,000 sheep were sold and bought there.
Animal welfare is paramount at Ballinasloe Mart and Eilish revealed that it is an issue that they take seriously and ensure that the facilities are always kept in pristine condition.
“There are upgrades made on a regular basis. Once you keep on top of things, that is key. The rings and pens would be washed down on a daily basis and we ensure that everywhere is kept in pristine condition.”
Eilish added that farmers are currently happy with the prices that they are receiving for their livestock. “Weanling prices are very good at the moment, the best they have been for some time, while store lambs are up in the last few weeks. It is a very volatile market though and prices can go up or down at anytime
To maintain the standards that the mart have set themselves, they have to be always looking to the future and at ways of enhancing the business even further.
“We started off with one ring and there are now three here. It is a huge facility. Our aim is to keep the overheads down without letting the mart suffer in anyway.
“At busy times, we would have up to 40 people working here and all of them would have great experience and they have built up a good rapport with the farmers, which is important. The staff play a huge part in the success of the mart.”
Overseeing the day to day running of the mart, Eilish reports back to the Committee and discussions take place over what is the best course of action to take.
“Any major decisions are put to the Committee. It has always worked very well and you can see by the fact that we are here so long suggests that we are doing something right and hopefully we can continue that for many years to come.”
Ballinasloe co-op Livestock
Mart Ltd
Ballinasloe,
Co Galway
Tel:090 9642384 / 090 9642455
e-mail: themanager@
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 5 No 7, October/November 2017
