Thomas Lyons 
Cootehill Livestock Mart in Co. Cavan has appointed Noel Gill as its business development manager to assist in the running and development of the mart’s livestock sales. Gill, who comes from a farming background and has 15 years of sales experience working with an animal pharmaceutical company, will work alongside mart manager Geoffrey Drury. Cootehill Mart hosts weekly sales of general cattle, sheep, and calves and weanlings. The venue also hosts special sales of dairy stock, pedigree stock, organic cattle, and machinery at certain times throughout the year. A special sale of pedigree breeding bulls is set to take place on Friday, May 12.
The new appointment to the Co. Cavan-based mart comes as the total number of cattle sold at marts across the country has hit almost half a million head in the first three months of 2023, according to figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM). In January, February, and March of this year, a total of 499,688 cattle (including calves) were sold, with the highest number being sold in March (228,335 head). The first quarter of this year had a higher number of cattle sold at marts than the first quarter of last year, with 15,885 more head sold. The table below compares the number of cattle sold in the first three months of 2022 and 2023 (unsold cattle are not included):
| January | February | March |
|———|———-|——-|
| 2022 | 80,210 | 154,497 | 249,096 |
| 2023 | 99,426 | 171,927 | 228,335 |
In 2022, March was the month with the highest number of cattle sold at marts. Large volumes of calves from the dairy herd appearing at marts in the spring was a major contributing factor to this. The month with the second-highest number of cattle sold at marts last year was October. Large numbers of store cattle and weanlings coming off grass after the summer grazing season accounted for a large volume of this monthly figure.
The number of cattle sold privately (farm-to-farm) in the first three months of this year was 472,707 head. This figure is down by over 9,600 head from the same time period last year when 482,335 head of cattle were sold from farm to farm. Last March and April were the two consecutive months with the highest farm-to-farm sales. Farmers trading calves and farmers buying grass cattle likely contributed significantly to these figures. Farm-to-farm cattle sales were much lower than mart sales in the third and fourth quarters of last year with numbers for quarters three and four peaking in November at 118,482 head of cattle.
Cootehill Livestock Mart’s new business development manager, Noel Gill, brings a wealth of sales experience to the role. Gill, who hails from Ballybay, Co. Monaghan, has 15 years of sales experience working with an animal pharmaceutical company. His appointment comes as the number of cattle sold at marts across the country has risen to almost half a million head in the first three months of this year, according to figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
Cootehill Mart hosts weekly sales of general cattle, sheep, and calves and weanlings. The venue also hosts special sales of dairy stock, pedigree stock, organic cattle, and machinery at certain times throughout the year. A special sale of pedigree breeding bulls is set to take place on Friday, May 12. The mart’s new business development manager will work alongside mart manager Geoffrey Drury in the running and development of the livestock mart.
In the first three months of this year, a total of 499,688 cattle (including calves) were sold at marts across the country, according to figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM). This is up from the same period last year, with 15,885 more head sold. The month with the highest number of cattle sold at marts in 2022 was March, with large volumes of calves from the dairy herd appearing at marts in the spring being a major contributing factor. The month with the second-highest number of cattle sold at marts in 2022 was October, with large numbers of store cattle and weanlings coming off grass after the summer grazing season.
The number of cattle sold privately (farm-to-farm) in the first three months of 2023 was 472,707 head, down by over 9,600 head from the same time period last year when 482,335 head of cattle were sold from farm to farm. Last March and April were the two consecutive months with the highest farm-to-farm sales, with farmers trading calves and farmers buying grass cattle likely contributing significantly to these figures. Farm-to-farm cattle sales were much lower than mart sales in the third and fourth quarters of last year, with numbers for quarters three and four peaking in November at 118,482 head of cattle.
