During the pandemic restrictions and socially distancing prevented marts in Ireland from trading unless they moved their business online.
Farmers and livestock marts quickly moved into the world of online trading showing how well farmers and marts can adapt when needed.
Now cattle marts have reopened with large numbers of cattle in mart rings still being bought by online bidders.
New cattle movement data from 2020, reveals the number of farm-to-farm movements from both marts and directly from farm-to-farm.
Just over 3 million cattle were traded between farmers in Ireland last year. Nearly half (48.3 per cent) of all cattle was traded at marts 1,530,690 while the other half was traded directly between farms.
In 2019, 56 per cent or 1,669,138 cattle went through Irish marts.
The total number of livestock movements in 2020 grew by more than 196,000, compared to the previous year.
LSL News.