Mart yard ban

charolais0153

farawaygrass wrote: »

Was there any delays or hold ups there yesterday?

No not really

SuperTortoise

Simplest solution IMO is to have a designated time for viewings.
Cattle for sale are to at the mart by 10am latest
Once all cattle are penned they can be viewed for an hour before the start of sale.
When loading cattle for home animals are grouped and brought to the loading pens, buyer takes it from there.
You could have 2 sales per week to help ease the workload.?

Ms. Chanandler Bong

BIL was in Ballymote mart yesterday, said they had closed off the yard completely, staff only allowed down around the pens. No viewing time for checking animals pre-sale. The only time you see the animals is when they're in the ring. Lots of Aurivo head office boys around yet nobody took the time to explain what was going on with new rules, it was a case of everyone finding out bit by bit by talking amongst themselves about what they'd heard. Not really the best way of implementing a new regime, I would have thought!

Muckit

A lot of solutions to before the sale but whatabout after?

You buy an animal. Get your passout in office, then what?
How many drovers would you want on to keep the sale going and pick out and load cattle for buyers? Or are all buyers going to have to wait til the sale is over?

Farmers will have to be involved in some shape or form. It has to go like the glas, spraying etc - a training course. You pass it and get your 'animal handling ticket'.

Where does it stop?
I drop down cattle to the factory at night. I give the cards to security guard at the gate. Who unloads and handles my cattle and puts them in the pen (sometimes with other cattle if dropping 1or2)? There's probably cameras that security guard can see and facilities in most factories are excellent, but it's still lone working ..... and with heavy cattle.

Farmer

Agreed, Muckit. Add in some better facilities and better procedures and safeguards at marts and you might have something workable. It would be difficult to police any type of 'safe pass' thing though.

I suspect that the final decision on this is as likely to be made by a group of insurance executives looking at a spreadsheet than from within agriculture

In a way it all goes to show how much agriculture is squeezed at the coal face. We could build marts 40 years ago, now we can't afford to upgrade them to modern standards

If this needed to be done in the milk or meat processing area, there'd still be eniugh earnings to do it - and maintain the CEO's bonus at the same time

Butcher Boy

I buy butcher heifers from time to time I like to go in and check them for fat cover before I buy them ,what now if I cant get a hand on them I wont buy them.

scuggels

Well after the initial ban what are lad, ladies views on it? Hard to see it working for the weanling season?!