News » Live Streaming of Marts
Not for the first time Live Streaming of Marts in back in the news. It seems that this has appeared and disapppeared in a number of guises over the years. Perhaps with the availability of broadband and smartphones - its time has now arrived.
This week two marts have gone live with Live Streaming of their Marts - Mayo-Sligo Mart which is piloting a bidding online system. This system requires a short process for farmers to register online to access the system. UK based Newline are the service providers and have long experience in mart streaming and have introduced this system based on a Canadian bidding system to the Mart in Ballina.
Meanwhile in Ballymahon Mart after 3 weeks trials -their livestreaming has gone live this week with no registration system required - a single click is all it takes to view the mart live. The service provider is FarmersForum.ie who say their focus is on using the interent to improve delivery of farming information. There is no charge or sign up fee required for Farmers to access the Ballymahon Mart live stream.
FarmersForum.ie have for the past 3 years been delivering the most comprehensive range of Irish Mart Reports in one single place and provides this service free of charge to the farming community.
There has been ongoing debate in the farming community of "Would you buy cattle online?" with concerns about Marts being bypassed and cattle selling on deals sites. Equally such technology improvements will be welcomed by part time farmers not having time to get to the mart. FarmersForum.ie report a high level of positive feedback from the farming community about being able to go online and see the latest cattle prices at their local mart and this is seen as a big help for them in planning the best weight to sell at and the likely value they will receive if they sell soon.
Now that Ballina Mart has got their first online sale across the line, it will be interesting to see how the farming community react to the idea of buying online. Traditional farmers suggest that viewing animals online is 2 dimensional and you would only have a few minutes to make up your mind, whilst visiting the mart, you can have a good look at the animals long before they come in the ring and view them in 3D. Weighted against the convenience of not having to drive to the Mart to make the purchase....there are interesting times ahead
If you have an opinion or thoughts on the above we would love to hear your feedback. CONTACT US
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