Flying the flag for you, our livestock producers, in a packed year

In what feels like the blink of an eye, here we are nearing the end of what undoubtedly has been a tumultuous and challenging year for the farming industry, and not least for the livestock sector.

From extreme weather conditions and disease outbreaks to bombshell budget announcements, we are proud to have helped steer a clear and steady path, supporting you, our mart users, while helping to provide a trusted marketing platform alongside a vital community hub, during these times of challenge, yet also opportunity.

The year certainly started on a strong positive for us at the LAA, with the long-anticipated launch of the new Market Prices platform, helping you to make even more informed decisions about when and what to market. 

Launched at the very start of the year with an extremely encouraging uptake, we have been listening to your feedback and will continue to enhance and fine-tune the delivery of this service to meet your needs, with a brand-new update to bring to you early in 2025.

All eyes were on the numbers and sales figures in April, when we launched our Throughput and Turnover figures for 2023, with some 10.9 million animal sold through the live auction ring.

We saw more numbers forward in most sales categories, despite reductions in national breeding herds and flocks, and a rise of nearly £115 million turnover on the year, up to more than £2.2 billion across England and Wales.

The true story however was around the prices achieved by our independent auctioneers, with store and breeding sheep values rocketing, and store, prime and dairy cattle price rises also seen.

These price trends appear to have followed into 2024, not least during the breeding sheep sales season through to the end of autumn, with lower numbers resulting in a phenomenal trade, and averages consistently up on the year. It was great to hear about people returning to the live ring, on the back of the trade they saw at the breeding sales.

In a year when we were delighted to see our executive secretary Chris Dodds recognised for his contribution to British farming, when he advanced to become a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies during a House of Lords awards ceremony in October, we also welcomed the appointment of our new chairman, Keith Davies of Welshpool Livestock Market.

Keith takes over the mantle following his predecessor Alastair Brown’s successful and eventful two-year term of office, and will help to drive forward many of the initiatives that Alastair has supported, not least our MartSafe Training Programme.

We launched the third-year curriculum for MartSafe in July, to coincide with Farm Safety Week, with the initiative providing specialist training, promoting health and safety, safe handling and animal welfare in the livestock market. 

To date, we have provided 98 in-person training sessions, delivered to 2,337 participants, since MartSafe’s launch in 2022. All of this makes your mart experience a more-rewarding and safe experience.

Alongside this, we continue to represent you in policy negotiations, providing a voice for our farmers and mart users in government, as well as with wider industry groups and organisations.

That will always remain our key remit, to provide that support to our livestock industry and producers, in doing so also providing a transparent platform to market your livestock, alongside the vital social community that brings us all together in one live hub.

We thank you for your support over the last 12 months, and for all of your tireless hard work to put food on our tables. 

From all at the LAA, we wish you a very merry Christmas and send our best wishes for a happy new year.

Photo Credit: Ruth Rees Photography 

Join us at Christmas in the Mart at Bentham Auction Mart as we look back on 2024 at the LAA, from the launch of Market Prices to policy negotiations with government. We’ve been making your voice heard!

Catch a round up of trade in the live auction ring, from the breeding sheep sale season, to our Christmas Prime Stock Shows & Sales. The live ring has been proving it’s value once again.

Let us say our thanks, and share some festive cheer, to all of you who support the live auction ring and work tirelessly to put food on our tables.