There was a time when it was not that unusual in Ireland to see a farmer walking cattle to the mart.
It was usually a slow start, having to round them all up and then get people in position to make sure there was not one or two of them that would stray.
It was, for many farmers, a more gentle way of cutting the ties with cattle that they had nurtured and worried over.
The meander down the road to the mart, whether it was raining or the sun was shining, marked the end of a chapter and a moment to pause and hope that all of the hard work would pay off.
Sometimes on the odd occasion there would be one of the cattle that would break free – it would take a race through a gap in a hedge and then there was a short frenzied burst of activity, with normally the youngest, fastest runner being dispatched to retrieve it.
Many a memory was made on the walk to the mart.
For the first time today (Wednesday, May 17), in what was estimated to be nearly six decades, one Co. Wicklow family resurrected the tradition of walking to the mart.
Carnew Mart
Joe and Joseph Hughes decided that they would rather walk to Carnew Mart for their first production sale rather than loading their cattle up on a trailer or a truck to go to the mart.
It is after all, according to Joe Hughes, just 500m from their farm to the mart.
Hughes’ production sale featured freshly calved heifers and cows, autumn calvers, bulling heifers and heifer calves.
There were 120 lots on offer from the Hughes’ herd.
The herd has been artificial insemination (AI)-bred for over 40 years and the success of sexed semen on the farm has resulted in an increase in the number of high-quality heifers being born on the farm.
Because of this the Hughes family is now planning on having a yearly production sale.
But was the walk to the mart today just a once off?
According to Joe Hughes, there was a lot of talk about it and “a lot more people turned up than I expected, but it went well”.
“It was very normal,” he said.