Damien's Diary: the beauty of the mart

I was delighted to have been invited to share in the 50th anniversary celebrations at Ballyjamesduff mart last week. My uncle Philip has been very much a part of that mart during that time, so I spent many days there in my youth. It must be why I get nostalgic now whenever I visit a mart to record interviews. Happy memories!

I love the cacophony of noise unique to the mart environment. It is distinct and glorious. There is a real genuine business about the mart atmosphere that has never really changed in a rapidly evolving world. There is an earthiness which pertains where the whack of the auctioneer’s hammer is as authoritative and relevant today as it ever was in this highly technological age.

Auctioneers are artists. I mean that. And I have never met a shy auctioneer. You can’t be shy and be an auctioneer. A few months ago, I was one of the judges at my local GAA club “Lip sync” fundraiser. I was asked would I also do the halftime auction.

“Absolutely no way. If you want to make money, you need an auctioneer, not a broadcaster,”I politely replied. And they got an auctioneer and he made more money than all of Ireland’s broadcasters put together could have made. I used to lean on the parade ring beside my uncle wondering how on earth the auctioneer could spot the bidders and also wondering what on earth he was saying.

There was what I’d call an agreed system in the ring involving the seller, the bidders, the fella putting the cattle around the ring and the auctioneer, which to this day I still don’t really get. It’s wonderful stuff.

I can’t say it is uniquely Irish. I was at a mart in Aberdeen a few years ago and it wasn’t much different. But, of course, what it is is uniquely farming. The mart has had its challenges.

Mart days have had to move to weekends to accommodate part-time farming. That in its own right has also necessitated stricter controls in marts. Cattle are wilder now, which in some cases can be atributed to part-time farming as some animals get less handling than before. But I remember as a boy walking through the much tamer cattle in the pens at the back of the mart no bother. I loved looking at all the different breeds, shapes and sizes, pen after pen. And for me, there was also more excitement about bringing cattle to the mart to sell rather than buying to bring home.

Sitting in the box beside my uncle as the auctioneer took bids and then kept going until he got the nod to put them “on the market” was exciting. This was the very heart of farming commerce and quite possibly the local economy in action. Two years feeding and rearing with the aim of making an honest living deliberated and decided upon in public in the space of two or three minutes. How dramatic is that? It is like a university of farming. You can learn a lot on a visit to the mart. And you can get a good dinner too!

I have worked as an agricultural journalist for the past 20 years. I didn’t learn about it growing up in Castleknock. I got it totally from spending my holidays on my granny and uncle’s farm, which included the visits every Tuesday to Ballyjamesduff co-operative mart. Here’s to the next 50.

Well done to St. Vincent de Paul for its powerful radio ad coming up to Christmas. It’s a terribly pressurising time for so many. Those of us who can afford to should try and support the great work they do especially at this time of year.