From Ring to Screen: A Short History of the Livestock Mart in the UK & Ireland

From Hexham to Ballymena, Tullow to Tullamore, livestock marts have long stood at the centre of rural life across the UK and Ireland. For over a century, these markets have connected farmers, shaped communities, and underpinned agricultural economies. Today, as marts digitise and evolve, it’s worth reflecting on where they came from - and what they still mean.

🌿 Before the Ring: Markets Built on Trust

Livestock trade has deep roots across the British Isles. As early as the Middle Ages, farmers gathered in town squares and fairs to sell animals by weight, eye, and reputation. In Ireland, cattle fairs like the Ballinasloe Horse Fair, dating back over 300 years, became legendary for the volume of stock moved. In the UK, historic markets like Thrapston (Northamptonshire) or York Mart formed part of the weekly calendar.

These early gatherings relied on trust and local knowledge. Deals were sealed with handshakes, and repeat business was common. Auctioneers didn’t yet exist. There were no catalogues — but there was a shared code of conduct among rural communities.

🔨 The Rise of Formal Marts

By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, these informal fairs gave way to formalised livestock auction marts. This shift was driven by:

• The rise of agricultural co-operatives
• The need for standardised pricing
• New regulation and the move toward disease control and animal traceability

In the UK, Knutsford Mart (opened 1903) and Sedgemoor (now the South West’s largest) began offering covered sales, auctioneering licences, and printed sales lists. In Ireland, the Livestock Marts Act of 1967 transformed how markets operated, introducing licensing and a regulatory framework that shaped the mart system still in place today.

These changes made livestock selling more transparent, fairer, and accessible to farmers of all sizes — a critical step for independent agriculture.

🧑‍🌾 The Social Centre of Rural Life

By the 1950s and ‘60s, marts weren’t just commercial hubs — they were community institutions.

In places like Dumfries, Enniskillen, or Kilkenny, the weekly sale was a time to:

• Sell stock
• Buy breeding animals
• Catch up on news
• Talk politics
• Or just have a fry and a few strong cups of tea in the canteen

Especially in isolated rural areas, marts became a lifeline. For many farmers, it was the only place they saw neighbours face-to-face each week.

📈 Complexity Rises — and So Do the Challenges

As farming modernised, so did the mart.

Sales now included:

• Multiple categories (calves, breeding, machinery, dairy, in-lamb ewes…)
• Integrated livestock movement reporting (e.g. AIM in Ireland, BCMS in England)
• Bidding online and in the ring simultaneously
• VAT, commissions, cheque printing, BACS payments

The admin became a full-time job — and many marts still relied on manual spreadsheets, ageing systems, or legacy back-office software that wasn’t built for remote teams or dynamic change.

💻 The COVID Shift: Everything Goes Online

The pandemic forced nearly every mart across the UK and Ireland to rethink their tech — fast.

MartEye, along with platforms like LSL Auctions and SellMyLivestock, helped keep sales going with remote bidding, timed auctions, and livestreamed rings. It wasn’t just a workaround — it marked the start of a permanent shift.

Yet beneath the surface, many markets still struggled with:

• Invoicing delays
• Cataloguing inefficiencies
• Reporting bottlenecks
• Software that couldn’t scale or sync in real time

🛠️ Studio: Building the Next Chapter of Mart History

MartEye Studio was built in direct response to what we heard across Ireland and the UK:

“The sale works. The livestream works. But behind the scenes, we’re still running on fumes.”

Studio fixes the invisible work:

• Cataloguing that starts from a phone in the yard
• Live dashboards for the rostrum and office
• Instant BACS files, statements, and reports
• Full traceability, full audit trail, no double entry
• Works without a server. Works without signal.

It’s not a replacement for tradition — it’s a tool to preserve it.

🧭 Tradition Meets Technology

The livestock mart isn’t just an auction — it’s a legacy. A living institution that has adapted to foot and mouth, CAP reform, and now digitisation. But its soul remains the same: connection, trust, and fair trade.

At MartEye, we believe the future of marts is bright — and it should be built on software that respects their past.

From Hexham to Ruthin, the ring is still the heart. We’re just making sure the backoffice keeps up.