Livestock markets keeping the industry alive by ensuring fair trade
15th July 2019
“Markets are integral to farm businesses because they set the price for livestock, helping farmers to achieve fair prices,” says Clive Roads, auctioneer at McCartneys.
McCartneys auctioneer, Clive Roads
“Markets are integral to farm businesses because they set the price for livestock, helping farmers to achieve fair prices,” says Clive Roads, auctioneer at McCartneys.
“The price is based solely on supply and demand, both regional and export, and without this competitive element, abattoirs and buyers could create their own price,” he adds.
“Because of this, markets provide farm businesses of all sizes a modern, transparent and efficient platform for selling their stock.”
Clive explains that this transparency allows any specification and number of stock to be sold, whether that’s a herd of prime beef stock or just one cull ewe.
“This is extremely helpful for small businesses who may not have access to any other way of marketing their stock, or are unable to meet very specific and rigid deadweight requirements,” says Clive.
This was confirmed in a recent report commissioned by the Livestock Auctioneers Association (LAA) which highlighted the importance of markets to rural businesses.
Clive says that markets generated £3.42 billion last year from 1.4 million cattle and 10 million sheep, further highlighting their importance.
“Livestock markets are key to the success of the livestock farming industry in this country and without them beef and sheep farming may cease to exist,” concludes Clive.
