Livestock marts have been part of our history for well over a century or more and they have grown into so much more than just a place for farmers to sell their cattle, sheep and pigs.
Marts bring the farming community together as many a tale of the previous week’s going-ons have been told time and time again. It is a place for farmers to bounce ideas off each other, while doing their business.
These days marts offer so much more than just sales as the have become hubs where many services are provided.
One of the most successful and long standing marts in Northern Ireland is the Armagh based Markethill Livestock & Farm Sales, which is located on the Cladymilltown Road in Markethill.
The history of Markethill is an intriguing as it first opened its doors as a certification centre after the war, which it continued to do so until 1953 when it moved to a new premise and the livestock mart.
Since then Markethill Livestock & Farm Sales Ltd has been serving the community within a large area of County Armagh, Down, Tyrone and Fermanagh. Sales have been operating in Markethill for over 65 years and two years ago, they moved to a new purpose built facility on the outskirts of the town.
This 15 acre site is continuing to be developed, but already, not only does it comprise of a livestock mart, but also a property sales and management company as well as Fane Valley Stores outlet. The store located within the premises of Markethill Livestock & Farm Sales on the Cladymilltown Road, Markethill offers an extensive range of products to farmers and the wider rural community. The store provides 2,000sq ft of retail floor space stocking thousands of products. A ‘while you wait’ tag printing service is also available on site.
Markethill Livestock & Farm Sales Ltd Director Hampton Hewitt spoke to Irish Tractor & Agri about the progress the business has made over the years and he also reveals their plans for the future.
“We moved to the new premises after the Newtownhamilton Mart closed and this became an amalgamation of them both in a sense,” said Hampton.
“The new site is open two years now and we are delighted with the progress that we have made during that time. Our sales are always fairly busy, but obviously our peak times would be from October onwards when anywhere between 1400-1700 cattle would be sold in a week.”
The mart has also obtained numerous certificates including the Northern Ireland Food Chain Certificate which following a market inspection, the report is reviewed by a certification officer at NIFCC to ensure that the market meets the required standards for the ABM Livestock Market Scheme. If the market is a new applicant, they must be fully compliant with the scheme standard prior to their acceptance within the scheme.
Each market is informed in writing of the outcome of their inspection. If non-conformances exist, a time-scale for rectification will be set to allow the market sufficient time to carry out the remedial action and one of the first marts to be approved into the scheme was Markethill Livestock and Farm Sales.
Like all marts, Markethill has its set days for the sales, which means farmers know when the animal they want to sell or buy should be there.
“We have dairy cows, cull cows and dropped calves on a Tuesday. Wednesday is sheep sales and on Saturday, we sell store cattle, weaklings and suckler cows. We would have about 40 here working on a full time and part time basis and every plays their part in making the business the success it is.”
Hampton revealed that in general the 2015 cattle prices were very good apart from a downturn pre-Christmas.
“Prices throughout 2015 were very good, but the last two months were not great. However, lamb prices have improved significantly in recent months with much of the stock been sold down south.”
The mart generates a lot of business around the Markethill area as shops and eateries provide farmers with all they need for a day at the sales.
Not only that but livestock hauliers make a living from attending the mart for each sale with many having a close working relationship with the company.
“The same number of hauliers would generally be here all the time and they would not only know us well, but farmers tend to stick with the same haulier when purchasing or selling their livestock.”
Hampton admitted that the last couple of years had been about getting the new premises up and running and he feels they have achieved that and now the aim is to push on.
“We have room for more development so we will be looking into that, while on the sales end of the business, it is just a matter of continuing to provide the service that we have been providing and working on ways of improving that.”
Markethill Livestock & Farm Sales
12 Cladymilltown Road, Markethill
County Armagh
BT60 1RB
Tel: 02837 551 265
Fax: 02837 551 545
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 4 No 3, March 2016
