The 1960s and 1970s were a period of huge change in Ireland. Rural electrification was a game-changer, transforming what life was like in rural Ireland. Free secondary education, improved employment and economic expansion made loads of opportunities available for the Irish workforce. Agriculture wasn’t left behind, with Irish cow numbers increasing from 1.2m in 1960 to 1.7m in 1970. Beef exports grew from 48,000t to 140,000t during that decade and the volume of milk produced increased by 30%.

It was also a period of great change in the way cattle were traded in Irish towns and villages. Prior to the 1960s, fair days were held monthly on specific days – where farmers would walk their animals, in some cases, for miles to the local fairs. I have heard of some great stories of animals jumping ditches and drains on the way to fairs, which added to the excitement of fair day for young children kept home from school to get the cattle to the market.

Dealers ran the show back then, with several dealers attending these fair days to purchase cattle for the Dublin cattle market. Sometimes dealers would be standing on the outskirts of the villages on fair day mornings to meet the cattle coming into the fair and try and buy them before they made it in. This was a sign of a good trade and often posed a difficult decision to be made. Sell and take the price, or don’t sell and take your chance that they would make more at the fair.

If there were no dealers on the edge of towns, it was a bad omen for the trade on the day. Trading took place in the mornings with lots of back slapping, spitting and shaking hands, but there was little transparency in the sales process, with dealers often taking advantage of soft sellers.

Following an Irish Co-operative Society organised trip to Wales in 1955, the first mart was established in Co Waterford in 1956. With the support of the farmer groups the then National Farmers Association (NFA) – now the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) – and the ICMSA, marts popped up all across the country and transformed the way cattle was bought and sold in Ireland.

The emergence of marts didn’t go down well in all quarters, with dealers’ noses being particularly put out of joint and protests took place at some locations where dealers wouldn’t attend marts. The unrest soon went away and dealers and farmers both bought and sold cattle in mart rings around the country.

Two stalwarts of Baltinglass Mart, sisters-in-law Margaret Cronin and Margaret Cronin pictured with John Shirley.

Baltinglass Mart

Baltinglass Mart was established in 1968 and has been serving the Wicklow and surrounding communities with weekly sales of cattle and sheep since then. Back then bi-monthly sales of horses and working dogs also took place. In 1974, brothers Michael and Joe Kinsella from Carnew commenced operating the mart and since 2009, it has been run under Joseph and Maria Kinsella.

I recently attended an event, celebrating Baltinglass’ 50 years in business.

The guest speaker, John Shirley, former livestock editor with the Irish Farmers Journal, took us down memory lane across the last 50 years and, in particular, the changes which marts have had to endure during that time.

“Life was very different in the 1960s and so too was farming, with livestock farmers concentrating on producing store cattle for the Dublin cattle market, which were then bought by live shippers and shipped to England.”

The traditional breeds of Aberdeen-Angus, Shorthorn and Hereford dominated breeding at that time, with the ‘Blue-Grey’ being highly sought after for breeding across the water. Continental cattle changed the beef industry – with better, higher growth rate genetics, more efficient at converting feed into meat. Joining the EEC in 1973 was a momentous occasion for Irish agriculture, with a huge increase in prices – until an equally huge price collapse in the autumn of 1974, driven by a fodder crisis. The price recovered and Ireland benefited from membership, but numbers also increased across the EEC and with that, a surplus of beef arose.

Then along came intervention to deal with the extra production and Europe built up mountains of beef.

“Export refunds were then introduced and these were highly significant,” said Shirley, accounting for up to 70% of the total value of the animal paid on all animals, regardless of quality. This was a great time for marts, with live shippers very active for cattle for new live markets.

The McSharry reforms brought about positive change to cattle farming and was most influential for Irish agriculture, according to Shirley.

BSE, foot and mouth disease and the COVID years all dealt huge challenges for marts, but all were overcome.

Marts have also all moved to the new age, with online sales now firmly in place.

“Marts bring price transparency, social interaction and are important in keeping pressure on the dead trade, which is even more important today than it was 50 years ago,” said Shirley. “I want to express my heartfelt congratulations to the Kinsella family, who have kept Baltinglass Mart going for the last 50 years, an enormous achievement for any business, let alone a mart; given all the changes that have taken place in Irish Agriculture over the last 50 years,” he concluded.