Carnaross Mart in Co Meath has found a way to operate a cattle sale with a live auction while still ensuring compliance with COVID-19 Government guidelines introduced for marts on Monday 30 March. Manager Padraig McElroy said the mart is using in-house software provided by Irish company Livestock Live to operate a sale on a virtual platform.
Carnaross Mart in Co Meath has found a way to operate a cattle sale with a live auction while still ensuring compliance with COVID-19 Government guidelines introduced for marts on Monday 30 March.
Manager Padraig McElroy said the mart is using in-house software provided by Irish company Livestock Live to operate a sale on a virtual platform.
He said: “Buyers and sellers can bid online and view the animals in real-time without being at the mart. An auctioneer will take bids and handle the sale as normal but the big difference is there will be no members of the public permitted enter to the mart premises.”
Padraig explained how the sale will work: “All animals are delivered to the mart and checked in as normal between 6am and 10am on Monday 6 April. Sellers drop off the animals and inform the mart of a reserve price and the animals are assigned lot numbers by the mart and placed into pens.
“Buyers are authorised to view the lots between 10am and 11.30am on Monday – these will be under stringent conditions and adhere to Government guidelines with a maximum of two buyers viewing lots at a time. We will manage a strict one-in, one-out policy.”
Sale process
Padraig says a catalogue list of all lots for the day will be available to view on the virtual mart catalogue. “As the animals are weighed and enter the ring all the information is displayed on the virtual mart board which would normally be available and seen in the mart on the display board.”
To trade, all buyers and sellers must be registered with Carnaross Mart and in turn with the Livestock Live sales platform. This will allow buyers to bid on animals while also allowing sellers to denote if they wish to sell.
The auctioneer will be present to sell animals but there will be no buyers or sellers at the ringside.
“Buyers and sellers log into the auction at www.carnarossmart.com and click ‘Live Online Auction’, where they can see the lots enter the ring as if they were at the mart. We have our auctioneer as normal managing the ring, calling out the bids as they come in online but the bidders and seller can also see each bid on the screen. The whole system is in real-time with almost zero delay. The successful buyers arrange to come to the mart to collect their animals.”
Carnaross Mart is guaranteeing payment remains as normal, with commission rates as normal for general sales. Anyone wishing to view the auction is welcome. Further information on the sale can be got by ringing 087-709 6611 / 046-924 0109 or through the mart’s website and Facebook page.
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