The Farmers Mart Oct/Nov 2013 - Issue 30 | Page 46

LIVESTOCK

LIVESTOCK MARKETS UNDERGOING
TRANSFORMATION, SAYS LAA
Livestock markets in England and Wales are undergoing an
unprecedented period of regeneration and modernisation,
according to the Livestock Auctioneers’ Association (LAA).
LAA Executive Secretary Chris
Dodds said the industry was in
a process of transformation that
was seeing premises modernised
and upgraded, business merging
and expanding and new areas of
business being added to the mix.
“Livestock markets have played an
important role in agriculture and the
countryside since the first market
opened in the Scottish borders in 1817,
but with this there has been a perception
that they have not moved with the times
in terms of serving farming and the
food chain industries. If you look at the
amount of regeneration activity in the
past two decades you can see this is far
from the case.

“In the last ten years we have seen
developments or relocations at
Cockermouth, Thirsk, Rugby (Stoneleigh
Park) and Cirencester, and more recently
at Kendal, Hereford, Wigton, Sedgemoor
and Welshpool. Abergavenny,
Holsworthy and Thrapston are in
the process of being re-located, and
Chelford, Beeston Castle, Darlington
and Barnard Castle have upgrade plans
in the pipeline”.

ONE STOP SHOP FOR
RURAL SERVICES
John Hughes, Manager of NWA
Property and Professional, which is the
land agency division of the L & K Group
which was created in 2005 from the
merger of Lancaster Farmers Auction
Mart and Kendal and District Auction
Mart. The company offers land agency,
farm advisory and stewardship matters,
as well as livestock sales. It is a full rural
services company which is designed as
a one-stop shop.
Lancaster was one of the early “out
of town” markets and still operates
successfully, but Kendal was still in
the town centre and was dated both
structurally and the way it met modern
welfare requirements.
Mr Hughes said farmers had less time
to spend in the marts because of the
demands on their time and businesses,
so it was a case of finding ways to
improve services and attract them back
to the markets.
“Our previous location in Kendal was
in the town centre and this was difficult
in terms of access and for both buyers
and vendors, so we started looking for a
re-location.
“We found an ideal site at Junction 36
of the M6. The J36 Rural Auction Centre
is now a showpiece offering up-to-date
facilities in a prime location, and the
business is expanding as well, if not
better, than was envisaged.
Other premises were built on the
site and these are currently leased out
to veterinary surgeons, accountants,
solicitors, feed companies, a tyre service,
animal health suppliers, and the Scottish
Agricultural College.

Mr Hughes added: “It is still work
in progress. We started in February
2013 and we have seen an increase
in livestock and other aspects of the
business. The location is probably the
key to doing what we do. Buyers from
the north come down from Scotland
and they might just want to stop here to
fill up their wagon. The site is purpose
built to tak e into account all aspects
of welfare and health and meet the
standards that are required, and allow for
electronic tagging and so on.

“As an industry we have to adapt all
the time to meet the needs of farming.
Things move so much more quickly
these days. Our farmer customers need
to concentrate on farming, and we are
here to help them with other parts of the
business. We are seeing some smaller
producers selling through the store
markets, but equally some of the big
finishers looking to meet the requirement
to source the number and quality from
the markets,” he said.
“We had a very lean time after foot
and mouth, but in the last three or four
years our profitability has improved. We
are finding that we can reinvest, and we
firmly believe these investments will pay
off for some time in the future.

www.farmers-mart.co.uk

46

Oct/Nov 2013 FarmersMart

To read more, visit www.farmers-mart.co.uk