Mart Show floored by heavy rains

THE heaviest rains to hit Galway in the past 13 months led to flooded fields and callows in many parts of the county and also caused the cancellation of the Loughrea Mart Spring Show and Cattle Show at the weekend

Loughrea Mart Manager, Jimmy Cooney, told the Farming Tribune, that the extremely heavy rains of last Friday night – coming on top of a wet period of weather – caused the mart to be flooded on Saturday morning.

“We knew around 7.45 on Saturday morning that the show and sale would have to be cancelled. After very heavy rain, there can be a problem with the level of the lake being higher than the mart grounds – we had a foot of water in places,” said Jimmy Cooney.

However, he explained that because it was a show and sale day, they had the numbers of almost everyone who had cattle entered and they were able to make contact with them early that morning.

“This has happened us before when the levels of the river and the lake rise and there really isn’t anything that we can do about it. It’s now case of all-systems-go for Saturday for the refaxed show and sale,” said Jimmy Cooney.

Many parts of Galway have through March endured their heaviest rainfall since January, 2018, with the three days before St. Patrick’s Day – last Thursday, Friday and Saturday – particularly wet.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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