Around one and half million cattle and two million sheep are sold at marts every year in Ireland. The Covid 19 crisis presented a major challenge on how to get our cattle bought and sold.  Software company Livestock Live developed virtual remote online bidding and video streaming to keep marts up and running. But do farmers miss the social aspect of the mart and can you really tell what an animal is like in the flesh from your iphone?

Henry McKean visited Carnaross Mart in Kells County Meath and met head auctioneer Jim Fox and sent us this report.