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Is gortatlea the biggest mart in Ireland

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  • 04-12-2020 9:26pm
    #1
    cute geoge
    Registered Users Posts: 2,896 ✭✭✭


    Mart running since 11 am this morning and bullock not started selling yet .Weanling were selling until 10 pm the last night ,The funny thing is prices do not seem any better then the rest of them and you have cattle in the cold with their stomachs back to the backbone standing for hours on end !!
    What is the attraction of the place??


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    #2
    patsy_mccabe
    Registered Users Posts: 10,705 ✭✭✭✭patsy_mccabe


    There's only one ring in Gortalea, if I remember right. i was there once. It's a small enough place. Ennis Mart would be way bigger with 3 rings.

    'When I was a boy we were serfs, slave minded. Anyone who came along and lifted us out of that belittling, I looked on them as Gods.' - Dan Breen



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    #3
    dohc turbo2
    Registered Users Posts: 838 ✭✭✭dohc turbo2


    patsy_mccabe wrote: »
    There's only one ring in Gortalea, if I remember right. i was there once. It's a small enough place. Ennis Mart would be way bigger with 3 rings.

    Built on good bit since he took over , he spends a good few days on the road in cork and Limerick buying cattle , and there was free transport at one stage to get the numbers down , lot of local farmers rather castleisland but the manager there hasn’t done a thing there since he was appointed , his contract is up in April so hopefully they get someone good to run it , getting cattle into gortatlea is a disaster ,


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    #4
    bogman_bass
    Registered Users Posts: 5,057 ✭✭✭bogman_bass


    Carnaross could well be the biggest


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    #5
    tanko
    Registered Users Posts: 9,222 ✭✭✭tanko


    cute geoge wrote: »
    Mart running since 11 am this morning and bullock not started selling yet .Weanling were selling until 10 pm the last night ,The funny thing is prices do not seem any better then the rest of them and you have cattle in the cold with their stomachs back to the backbone standing for hours on end !!
    What is the attraction of the place??

    Well if it only has one ring and takes over 24 hours to sell the cattle in it on a sale today it's not the biggest mart in Ireland, biggest shambles maybe.
    It must be some mess at busy times like Spring and Autumn.
    My local mart in Ballyjamesduff has four rings and pens for well over a thousand cattle. Carnaross would hold a lot of cattle but only has two rings i think.
    I'd imagine there must be marts in the west with 3/4 rings.


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    #6
    charolais0153
    Registered Users Posts: 6,225 ✭✭✭charolais0153


    tanko wrote: »
    Well if it only has one ring and takes over 24 hours to sell the cattle in it on a sale today it's not the biggest mart in Ireland, biggest shambles maybe.
    It must be some mess at busy times like Spring and Autumn.
    My local mart in Ballyjamesduff has four rings and pens for well over a thousand cattle. Carnaross would hold a lot of cattle but only has two rings i think.
    I'd imagine there must be marts in the west with 3/4 rings.

    Balla has 3, most others have 2


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    #7
    J.O. Farmer
    Registered Users Posts: 2,433 ✭✭✭J.O. Farmer


    charolais0153 wrote: »
    Balla has 3, most others have 2

    Drumshanbo and castlrea have 3, so does Roscommon I think and elphin.


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    #8
    ESetter
    Registered Users Posts: 62 ✭✭ESetter


    Kilmallock has 5 rings


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    #9
    Albert Johnson
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 1,874 Mod ✭✭✭✭Albert Johnson


    J.O. Farmer wrote: »
    Drumshanbo and castlrea have 3, so does Roscommon I think and elphin.

    There's only 2 rings in Elphin. It's testament to the management that a mart with only 1 ring and poorer than average facilities is wedged with cattle while more modern and equipped marts are only running at half capacity.

    It was the same with 2 of the aurivo marts the last few years, serious facilities and only handling small numbers for the majority of the year. The small independent marts like Dowra and Drumshanbo were handling far more stock in worse facilities. The bottom line is unless you have adequate buyer's and seller's of stock then all the investment and facilities possible won't get you a yard full of cattle.


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    #10
    djmc
    Registered Users Posts: 1,611 ✭✭✭djmc


    The guy thats running it is whats drawing the crowds he is well known and respected in the cattle trade even long before he took over the mart. Castleisland is a bigger mart with 2 rings and more space and penning but you wont have the same amount of buyers there even though its only 3 miles from gortatlea


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    #11
    DBK1
    Registered Users Posts: 2,142 ✭✭✭DBK1


    Albert Johnson wrote: »
    There's only 2 rings in Elphin. It's testament to the management that a mart with only 1 ring and poorer than average facilities is wedged with cattle while more modern and equipped marts are only running at half capacity.

    It was the same with 2 of the aurivo marts the last few years, serious facilities and only handling small numbers for the majority of the year. The small independent marts like Dowra and Drumshanbo were handling far more stock in worse facilities. The bottom line is unless you have adequate buyer's and seller's of stock then all the investment and facilities possible won't get you a yard full of cattle.
    Nail on the head Albert, Mossie would be well known and well respected and there’s men that wouldn’t allow their cattle go anywhere else. I buy a lot of my stock in it and I’d get it very hard to ever change.

    And just like you said, all the fancy facilities in the world won’t get the cattle in, that’s down to the manager organising the right buyers and sellers.


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    #12
    Grueller
    Registered Users Posts: 5,119 ✭✭✭Grueller


    DBK1 wrote: »
    Nail on the head Albert, Mossie would be well known and well respected and there’s men that wouldn’t allow their cattle go anywhere else. I buy a lot of my stock in it and I’d get it very hard to ever change.

    And just like you said, all the fancy facilities in the world won’t get the cattle in, that’s down to the manager organising the right buyers and sellers.

    Agree 100%. Carnew and Enniscorthy would be our closest.

    Enniscorthy is a great facility with 3 rings. Carnew has 1 good ring and 1 very poor ring really only suited to calves. Enniscorthy is a coop mart with a salaried manager and it might as well close its doors. The drovers are idle, the auctioneer is slow, the building is deteriorating, the quality and numbers of cattle in it are declining and it might as well close its doors.

    Up the road Carnew was a shambles until 25 years ago. David Quinn took over from his father, demoted the auctioneer in situ and started to do it himself. The place has transformed. He is possibly the best auctioneer I have heard, the drovers never have the ring empty so Quinn never breaks stride, cattle open within a shout of their value and if not when the second bid is placed he could take a €200 bid on it to get them close. He sells 60 lots an hour easily. The atmosphere is always a buzz. He has rebuilt the main ring and extended penning 3 times in the last few years.

    The manager is the key and tis rare an employed man matches an owner as the skin is not in the game.


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    #13
    DBK1
    Registered Users Posts: 2,142 ✭✭✭DBK1


    DBK1 wrote: »
    Nail on the head Albert, Mossie would be well known and well respected and there’s men that wouldn’t allow their cattle go anywhere else. I buy a lot of my stock in it and I’d get it very hard to ever change.

    And just like you said, all the fancy facilities in the world won’t get the cattle in, that’s down to the manager organising the right buyers and sellers.
    I should have added that I do still think a 13 hour sale like yesterday shouldn’t be allowed to happen, it’s too hard on both man and beast. Same goes for the weanling sales that don’t finish until 2 and 3 in the morning after starting at 5 in the evening. Maybe they should look at having more days for the sales and maybe have bulls one day and heifers the next to shorten the sales.


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    #14
    Mad_maxx
    Registered Users Posts: 13,505 ✭✭✭✭Mad_maxx


    i own commercial property across the road from Ennis mart , i dont know much about marts bar the handful of sheep i buy each year for my two acres but the one in Ennis looks enormous , my woman is from Clare and says its the biggest in the country ?

    maybe thats just something banner folk like to brag about though ?


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    #15
    einn32
    Registered Users Posts: 990 ✭✭✭einn32


    Mad_maxx wrote: »
    i own commercial property across the road from Ennis mart , i dont know much about marts bar the handful of sheep i buy each year for my two acres but the one in Ennis looks enormous , my woman is from Clare and says its the biggest in the country ?

    maybe thats just something banner folk like to brag about though ?

    Kilmallock I was always told was one of the biggest? 5/6 rings if I remember?


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    #16
    patsy_mccabe
    Registered Users Posts: 10,705 ✭✭✭✭patsy_mccabe


    Kilmallock would be early all dairy or dairy cross cattle. If you went there looking to buy hairy continental types, you'd be very disappointed. Ennis quality would be way better.

    'When I was a boy we were serfs, slave minded. Anyone who came along and lifted us out of that belittling, I looked on them as Gods.' - Dan Breen



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    #17
    amacca
    Registered Users Posts: 6,786 ✭✭✭amacca


    What about Bandon?...never been but seems to have very high numbers of calves go through...often rivalled exceeded Kilmallock numbers when I was looking

    And not to derail but what mart do people find the best for quality stock at reasonable/fair price?.........weanlings, runners, calves


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    #18
    orm0nd
    Registered Users Posts: 4,180 ✭✭✭orm0nd


    don't know about physical size the volume of stock going through ennis each week is huge, I get texts from them regularly about any up dates/sales etc.

    my local mart would be nenagh and you'd would fall asleep watching it on line , I sold a lot of stock there in the past and afaik I know they don't even have my phone no. on file

    management and auctioneers have a big say in how successful a mart is and even more so since the on line system came into place


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    #19
    Sacrolyte
    Registered Users Posts: 851 ✭✭✭Sacrolyte


    patsy_mccabe wrote: »
    Kilmallock would be early all dairy or dairy cross cattle. If you went there looking to buy hairy continental types, you'd be very disappointed. Ennis quality would be way better.

    Horses for courses


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    #20
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    My two cents as a "townie"....

    If you got yourself a big mug of black coffee, go look up the Irish Marts on YouTube: I've watched a load of these, and while I don't understand a lot of what's going on , they are quite engrossing. Some of them date from the 1970's.

    Are there a lot of YouTube videos from Gortalea? I'm sure that at least one or two YouTube videos should pop up. Do YouTube videos of marts from other locations pop up more often? See where I'm going with this.


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    #21
    Murang
    Registered Users Posts: 99 ✭✭Murang


    To get back to the topic mossie has skibereen nearly closed manager alowing the same few buyers dictate everything there shouting back and forth who gets each animal


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    #22
    grange mac
    Registered Users Posts: 865 ✭✭✭grange mac


    Murang wrote: »
    To get back to the topic mossie has skibereen nearly closed manager alowing the same few buyers dictate everything there shouting back and forth who gets each animal

    That's where online has its benefits. Those bucko's were back to normal carry on yest but with online they don't know who is bidding against them.
    But manager is only reacting to Maurice rather than being proactive.... The 2m's both take truck and trailer each Wed and Fri outa west cork not to mention the trucks M also organising when lads are full.


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    #23
    Butcher Boy
    Registered Users Posts: 557 ✭✭✭Butcher Boy


    grange mac wrote: »
    That's where online has its benefits. Those bucko's were back to normal carry on yest but with online they don't know who is bidding against them.
    But manager is only reacting to Maurice rather than being proactive.... The 2m's both take truck and trailer each Wed and Fri outa west cork not to mention the trucks M also organising when lads are full.

    There is 3 brothers around the ring in skibb and they have the whole lot ****ed up. motty have some job made out of cork marts and more luck to him ,all you have to do is look up at the board and see all the cork cattle going down to him.


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    #24
    Murang
    Registered Users Posts: 99 ✭✭Murang


    Butcher Boy wrote: »
    There is 3 brothers around the ring in skibb and they have the whole lot ****ed up. motty have some job made out of cork marts and more luck to him ,all you have to do is look up at the board and see all the cork cattle going down to him.

    Yes you are right about the 3 brothers but we all know that with years and have read here before but cork marts still turn a blind eye this what everyone in all of west cork know


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    #25
    grange mac
    Registered Users Posts: 865 ✭✭✭grange mac


    Butcher Boy wrote: »
    There is 3 brothers around the ring in skibb and they have the whole lot ****ed up. motty have some job made out of cork marts and more luck to him ,all you have to do is look up at the board and see all the cork cattle going down to him.

    Would they be the Krays or the K's 😂 😂 😂


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    #26
    Jjameson
    Registered Users Posts: 2,745 ✭✭✭Jjameson


    Grueller wrote: »
    Agree 100%. Carnew and Enniscorthy would be our closest.

    Enniscorthy is a great facility with 3 rings. Carnew has 1 good ring and 1 very poor ring really only suited to calves. Enniscorthy is a coop mart with a salaried manager and it might as well close its doors. The drovers are idle, the auctioneer is slow, the building is deteriorating, the quality and numbers of cattle in it are declining and it might as well close its doors.

    Up the road Carnew was a shambles until 25 years ago. David Quinn took over from his father, demoted the auctioneer in situ and started to do it himself. The place has transformed. He is possibly the best auctioneer I have heard, the drovers never have the ring empty so Quinn never breaks stride, cattle open within a shout of their value and if not when the second bid is placed he could take a €200 bid on it to get them close. He sells 60 lots an hour easily. The atmosphere is always a buzz. He has rebuilt the main ring and extended penning 3 times in the last few years.

    The manager is the key and tis rare an employed man matches an owner as the skin is not in the game.
    It is unfortunate as Enniscorthy is a great facility, you get your cattle out very easily and I find the drovers very good. Unhurried and helpful.
    The manager is the problem. Brutal auctioneer, narcissistic dose who thinks he’s doubling up as comedy.. blind to farmers over dealers, I hate to see him. The other auctioneer is very good and is in tullow Carnew and maybe more. The assistant manager isn’t a bad chap but easy going and won’t shake anything up. (That’s why he got the job)


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    #27
    grange mac
    Registered Users Posts: 865 ✭✭✭grange mac


    My only issue with Gortalea is big cattle will lose 30kg min coming outa west cork and weanling hanging around all night will be v suceceptible to pneumonia as will be exhausted from the day out.
    But he does have buyers upthere that mades up for downsides....


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    #28
    Butcher Boy
    Registered Users Posts: 557 ✭✭✭Butcher Boy


    Murang wrote: »
    Yes you are right about the 3 brothers but we all know that with years and have read here before but cork marts still turn a blind eye this what everyone in all of west cork know

    when you have men managing marts that know sweet **** all about cattle where are we going .There is not one of them could come out the yard and give you a rough idea what an animal would weigh or make .motty will come out and tell you to the cent what you wil get .and you will get it.


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    #29
    Butcher Boy
    Registered Users Posts: 557 ✭✭✭Butcher Boy


    grange mac wrote: »
    Would they be the Krays or the K's �� �� ��

    spot on:D:D:D


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    #30
    DukeCaboom
    Registered Users Posts: 1,030 ✭✭✭DukeCaboom


    Butcher Boy wrote: »
    when you have men managing marts that know sweet **** all about cattle where are we going .There is not one of them could come out the yard and give you a rough idea what an animal would weigh or make .motty will come out and tell you to the cent what you wil get .and you will get it.

    A better one, a local farmer rang ccm last April and said I've 12 cull cows out the parlour he was told oh we'd have no customer for them.
    He rang mauty, mauty came out ended up buying 35 cattle between cows, calves yearlings.

    That's the man in a nut shell he is up against f all.


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    #31
    K.G.
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 3,065 Mod ✭✭✭✭K.G.


    Murang wrote: »
    To get back to the topic mossie has skibereen nearly closed manager alowing the same few buyers dictate everything there shouting back and forth who gets each animal
    .id say bandon would do 2000 calves a week on the spring

    Skibbs hinterland is largely a dairy and suckler country with very little pure drystock and fattening farmers based in the area compared to othet areas.you wouldnt have many drystock farmers buying more than 30 a year around.that mossy is a cute old boy.they say you always get a price for your first load down there and after that its not much different .all that said i don t do much in the cattle trade


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