It’s a family affair for the Burkes at their livestock mart at scenic Maam Cross, Co. Galway. Brid Burke and her late husband Eoin leased the mart in 2008, and bought it in 2014 along with a hotel and filling station.
“Both Eoin and I came from rural backgrounds, with both families running businesses and small farms,” said Brid.
“When Maam Cross mart closed in 2007, Eoin saw the gap that was left in the community with local farmers having no choice where to sell their stock but off the land.
“This can prove hard as the seller is often left to take what they can get. Eoin always had a great interest in livestock and jumped at the chance of reopening the mart.”
Raising eyebrows
A gift shop and food truck were added to the mix. It all made for an unusual setting for a mart and Brid acknowledged that the move raised a few eyebrows.
“Some people definitely thought we were mad. They are not your typically combined businesses but that makes it all the more interesting.”
Sadly, Eoin died suddenly in 2017. The four Burke children – Hannah, Paddy, Muiread and Jean – helped keep the various enterprises running. Hannah, Muiread and Jean work primarily in the mart, while Paddy is currently running their food truck ‘Peckish at Peacockes’.
“Like every mart in the country, we are very busy at the moment with both sheep and cattle sales. We run our sheep sale on Saturdays throughout the year.
“When our sales are quieter, we have cattle on Saturdays also and then it moves to Mondays when it gets busier, at the start of August.
“We also run Connemara pony sales with our annual Connemara foal sale on the Sunday, November 28.
“The combination of a mart, hotel, gift shop, filling station and food truck is certainly unique, but because the businesses are so diverse it has helped.
“Since Covid-19 hit, one branch of the business has helped support the other and even pre-Covid it helped that one part of the business was quiet when the other was busy,” Brid said.
Hannah, Muiread and Jean have definitely learned a lot of new skills from working in the mart, Brid said. “Of course we know that unfortunately, women are still in the minority in the farming world. However, we see that as a challenge we are happy to try and rise to.
“It often happens them that newer customers ask them for the ‘man in charge’. This can prove very frustrating at times but that is just a small part of it. They often just laugh it off.
“The girls have definitely learned how to stand their ground and fight their own battles. There are of course benefits; it gives us all a chance to prove ourselves and we have seen an increase in females attending the mart.”
The mart’s culture
“Having a female crew running the mart isn’t as big an issue in recent years as we know our regulars very well. Occasionally, when we have new buyers, they will look over our shoulders for a male staff member which is funny because they are then referred back to us.
“Sometimes, people may try and go around us and ask the lads who simply tell them to go ask the girls. It provides us with a chuckle when someone is trying to be cute and say they’ve ‘asked the boss and he said yes’.”
Maam Cross Mart on a Saturday was a great spot for local farmers to meet and catch up with friends and neighbours and was a day out for many, Brid said.
“Many may not have had business in the mart but would still come out for the look and catch up,” she added.
“Because of restrictions imposed due to Covid-19, the sociability of the mart has greatly reduced and is a huge loss to all. For farmers, especially those living alone, the loss of the day out to the mart cannot be underestimated,” she said.
“We have no doubt this will return in time as we start to emerge from the ongoing pandemic. The mart has operated online with the ‘MartEye’ app since July 2019 and has opened up the market to farmers who can’t attend for various reasons.”
Maam Cross
Many hotels are now offering activity packages and at Peacockes of Maam Cross, guests often wander down to check out the commotion at the mart.
“It has happened that guests in the hotel will come down for a look and they buy stock that they hadn’t planned to. Tourists also love the opportunity to have a real insight into rural Ireland and recently, we gave our first mart tour which proved to be a resounding success,” said Brid.
Insurance is a huge problem, and an even bigger cost.
“When it comes up for renewal, we are often told that we are lucky to get any insurance, given the combination of businesses that we have. Working with livestock will always have its dangers but the work that marts do to make it as safe as possible is not always appreciated by some companies.
“Some say that we are too strict with some of our guidelines but it all links back to the health and safety of our customers. We can’t be without it but it is certainly very costly and the market is limited,” said Brid.
“When we leased the mart in 2008, many remarked that there was no future for marts, yet here we are 12 plus years later and still going strong. Of course marts have faced many different problems but unfortunately we are not a unique sector in that.
“The marts have proved more than capable of diversifying and adapting to overcome any challenges; just look at the success of online marts,” Brid said.
“When we were closed during the first lockdown from March to May 2019, the absence of marts was keenly felt by farmers, with no yard stick to judge prices and most needing to sell privately.
“As long as farmers have stock to sell and someone wants to buy stock, there will be marts. If marts continue to get the support and co-operation from farmers like we have, we here in Maam Cross see no reason why marts can’t continue to thrive,” Brid concluded.