Livestock farmers have more options than they may realise for buying and selling livestock during the current Covid-19 clampdown, according to one award-winning international auctioneer.
Cork-based auctioneer Denis Barrett – who specialises in livestock auctions, among other professional auction services – assured that trading can continue for producers even amid ongoing coronavirus restrictions.
‘Whatever solution works’
Speaking to AgriLand, Barrett – who has some 20 years of experience in conducting auctions across the world – explained that online livestock sales are more flexible and straightforward than some people think – and can be done in a variety of ways, through auction, individual transactions or facilitated sales.
“From my perspective, I believe in the auction method of marketing. I’ve always believed in it, whether marts use us [auctioneers], whether private individuals use us or whether they use another form; I just hope the animals can be moved.
I know that there are an awful lot of farmers around the country that are really stressed about the position that they find themselves in.
The auctioneer said that it’s a case of working with “whatever solution they find – once it’s a solution for them…almost a light at the end of the tunnel for them”.
“Because some of them I know from speaking to them, they’re genuinely stressed enough about where they’re going to either buy breeding or replacement stock, or actually sell their stock.”
Noting the US system of selling commercial cattle ‘by the pound’ in bigger bunches, Barrett said: “There’s no reason [this wouldn’t work] in Ireland, even as a temporary measure to alleviate the pressure that farmers find themselves under, there are definitely solutions out there for them.”
Online
Barrett, who will be conducting the Irish Aberdeen Angus Association’s first online pedigree bull sale later this month, has been doing online auctions since 2013, operating an online bidding and pre-bidding platform.
Asked if online livestock sales would have been common prior to the pandemic, Barrett said that Covid-19 is after “expediting something that was inevitably starting to gain traction”.
He noted: “When we started using it first in 2013, it was mainly people using it because they couldn’t come to the sale and they were using it to keep an eye on the sale but not really proactively partaking in the auction.
However, in the last 24 months we’ve seen a much greater uptake in the facility.
The auctioneer explained that location isn’t an issue for such sales, noting a recent Hereford sale where animals were sold to bidders in France and the Netherlands, while AI straws were sold to a UK buyer.
In a more localised context, he noted a Limousin sale earlier this year where two animals were sold online: one to a bidder in Navan, Co. Meath; the other to a Northern Irish purchaser. Each buyer had a different reason for using the online route, he added.
“The guy from Northern Ireland just was nervous about Covid-19; the man from Navan was just comfortable using it, so it just depends I think more on the purchaser and their experience with online, and whether it’s been good or bad.”
‘New concept’
Regarding the progression over time, Barrett said:
“We have definitely seen that people are much more comfortable with it than we would have previously encountered, even when it comes to logging in or anything; we don’t have calls like we used to before with people questioning it and not sure how it comes about or what to do from a purchaser’s perspective.”
In terms of the most effective sales from the vendor’s point of view, Barrett – a farmer himself – stressed that good-quality photographs and videos are essential to getting the most benefit out of online auctions.
From a breeder’s point of view, this is a very new concept so some of them are unsure how it works also; that’s the reality.
“I suppose Covid-19 is forcing some breeders to look at their overall marketing when they don’t have the society sales or indeed local mart sales running for their bulls this year; it makes their window for marketing a little bit smaller so they’re going to have to start to think outside the box.
“One thing that we’re finding more and more is that, as time goes on, people have less of it to be spending three or four hours driving to a sale. So even after Covid-19 I would see online sales playing a bigger part.”
Barrett noted the flexibility of online options means that sales can be catered for anywhere from one animal up to 1,000, regardless of breed or size, while still allowing for current restrictions.
We’re speaking with a number of dairy farmers, some guys have three, some guys have five, maybe doing a collective dairy sale in the locality and still abiding by the department rules.
“We’re conscious even with trucks, we don’t want them going in and out of different yards.
“But the reality is that farming is the backbone of the economy – and with that the trading of livestock is vitally important – especially this time of year when there’s so many breeding stock needing to be moved around,” Barrett concluded.