Keep them sailing, farmers in west Clare ferry calves to the mart
A car ferry has been operating from Killimer in west Co. Clare to Tarbert in Co. Kerry since 1969, and in its 56 years of sailing the service has carried many forms of freight.
A recent social media post by Castleisland Co-operative Livestock Mart highlighted farmers in west Clare using the sailing to travel to Kerry with stock for sale in the livestock mart.
Agriland spoke to Castleisland assistant mart manager, Adam Caughlin to find out how farmer interest came about.
He said: “A farmer approached us in the springtime, and he had calves that were two months old and he wanted to bring them to Castleisland because we’d be known for having a very good calf trade.
“So he rang and said he was watching the calf sale in Castleisland and was thinking of bringing calves to us, and I asked him where he was from.
“He said Kilkee in Co. Clare and I thought he was mad because it would take two and a half hours to come to Castleisland with a trailer of calves.
“And then he said I’ll get on the ferry over in Killimer, and I’ll be down to the mart then in half an hour.
“It was a great success, and a few of his neighbours started coming with calves as well."
Caughlin noted that there might be an opening to bring cattle across as well, and in the last couple of months farmers around the area have been ringing and enquiring about coming to the mart.
"We’ve been actually going across ourselves and looking at the cattle, and telling the farmers we have customers for their cattle. The cattle are very relaxed too when the lorry is on the boat," he explained.
The assistant manager estimated about 20 farmers have been availing of the sailing since the springtime.
The sailing from Clare to Kerry runs all-year-round everyday, only stopping for Christmas Day.
In peak tourism times the ferry company, Shannon Ferry Group will operate two boats, and reduces to one during the off-peak season.
CEO of Shannon Ferry Group, Eugene Maher spoke to Agriland about the ferry crossings.
He said: “We would have always carried a certain amount of livestock, usually it was drovers who were going around to different marts buying stock for sale in different locations.
“There are no marts in west Clare so farmers would have to go to Ennis or down into Kerry or Limerick for a mart, or in this case Castleisland.
“So we have seen a significant rise in the number of transport vehicles that are crossing here as a result of that.
“In the springtime you would definitely see significantly greater activity, and more often than not you’d see the same vehicles.”
