Sound of silence at Galway Marts

Date Published: 25-Sep-2008

ONE of the most distinctive sounds of the autumn trade in marts around the county – the plaintive lowing of calves just weaned from their mothers – now seems to be a thing of the past.

With the vast majority of Galway farmers having signed up to the new Suckler Cow Scheme, the painful weaning process has now been completed ‘on the farm’ weeks before the seasonal crop of calves is sold on.

Prior to this year, many farmers operated an ‘instant separation’ procedure whereby the weanlings were ‘pulled’ from their mothers on the day of the mart sale.

Marts in towns like Athenry, Tuam, Ballinasloe and Portumna annually produced a cacophony of ‘lowing cries’ from the calves on the days of the weanling sales from September through to early November.

However under the new ….