The Make-A-Wish Ireland Charity are delighted to announce, that due to the incredible generosity of the Irish people, especially in these troubled times, that they have achieved their target of raising €80,000 through their annual Wish Day initiatives.
 
This year, being fraught with difficulty, forced the Charity to cancel their national on-street collections due to the outbreak of COVID 19. Following on from advice from the HSE and the Government, and in the interests of Public Health and Safety, the annual fundraiser became a “Virtual Wish Day” with members of the public being asked to donate through a dedicated text line, or via the charity’s website www.makeawish.ie  
 
Wish Day is a key fundraiser for Make-A-Wish Ireland who grant some 200 wishes annually for children with life threatening illnesses such as cancer, cystic fibrosis and heart disease.  
 
The charity receives no government support, and it is only through the kind donations of the general public that the work of Make-A-Wish can happen.
 
Make-A-Wish CEO Susan O’Dwyer says ‘We are absolutely delighted with this result. We cannot thank the general public, and media, enough for their support. A big thanks to our corporate partners and specifically SPAR who are still supporting this incredible organisation. Wish Day is critical to our fundraising, and in light of Covid-19, has become even more important to us as we know of at least 10 key fundraising events that have been cancelled for the months ahead. In times like this hope is even more important, and the hope and strength we give our children is critical to their abilities to battle their illness. Thank you so much for your ongoing support.’

LSL, the software company behind the successful Online Virtual Mart Sales at Carnaross in Meath, and Manorhamilton in Leitrim, last week, have now developed a further addition to the LSL App that allows all of the country’s Marts to re-open and start trading within days. 
 
LSL are very grateful for the Government’s backing of these two Marts, which generated sales close to 500 animals. This coming week sees pre-booked lots of over 800 animals in to Carnaross, and over 500 in Manorhamilton.
 
This new platform will allow the opening of all marts around the country within days. The process and software platform comply with the Government’s National Public Health Emergency Team and all Public Health Protocols.
 
“Livestock Live offer a free to use, and free of subscription, herd management section as part of the ‘LSL App’ and ‘Livestock Live’ website. The App is connected to the Department of Agriculture Food and Marine (DAFM), Animal Identification & Movement (AIM) database” said the CEO of LSL, Brendan Hannigan
 
This week the company have installed a new feature in the herd management ‘Farm Monitor’ area called ‘My e-Mart’.
 
This feature allows herd owners to select a mart, set up a lot number, and choose the animal/tag from the herd. The farmer takes a video of the animal at home, which includes the tag in the video and uploads it. Videos must include the tag number displayed. The seller can then enter an estimated weight, or if the herd owner owns a weighing scales, they can mark the weight as ‘weighed’. When the lot is saved, it is sent to the ‘My e-Mart Auction’ area of the App and the bidding can commence. Once sold the animal is brought to the mart for weigh-in and the mart facilitate payment. The buyer only pays the exact weight per kilo at mart weigh-in.
 
Many of the country’s 91 Marts have been enquiring about the software and how it might work for them. The new platform does not require the mart to install any equipment and therefore marts that signup to the LSL App, to facilitate buyers and sellers, can be up and running very quickly according to the company.
 
Livestock Marts provide a vital outlet for Irish farmers with over 1.5m cattle and at least 2.0m sheep sold very year. Most importantly they provide price transparency to farmers so they can compare market prices.

​Irish Agri Software development company ‘Livestock Live’ has come up with innovative options as a way of finding a solution to enable Irish Marts to operate through this Covid-19 crisis. 

Livestock Live (LSL) provide in-house software to Livestock Marts around Ireland for the last two years. They have developed a platform which, not only provides mart software, but also allows remote online bidding, video streaming and an online document solution. 

In other words, a ‘Farmer Free’ online livestock mart. 

LSL have been in communication with the Department of Agriculture, outlining their proposals and seeking guidance from the Minister. LSL are working with a number of marts around the country, with a view to put in place virtual auction protocols, under the guidance of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

They have proposed three separate options to find a way to keep the marts trading – those options are  - 

• to operate a video streaming virtual live auction where animals are dropped off and collected. No public would be on the mart premises. 
• to import the animal data from AIM, ICBF and Bord Bia to the auction. Videos are recorded at the farm and uploaded onto the platform. Estimated weights are entered (unless the seller has a weighing scales) After the auction, animals are organised to be delivered to the mart, weighed and price per kilo amended based on actual weight. Buyers collect animals at the mart. The mart use their internal software to report the movement to AIM. The mart facilitates the payment and collection of payments online to ensure sellers benefit from the mart guarantee payment scheme. 
• Similar to Option 2, LSL reports the ‘farm to farm’ movement via the LSL Farm Management App/software. The seller requests a certificate from AIM via the LSL App after the virtual online sale has completed. The bidding will mostly be based on estimated weights. The buyer must accept that the bids are placed based on the pre-recorded video and the estimated weight by the seller. The animals do not go to the mart to be weighed and each lot is sold as seen (pre-recorded video) and estimated weight. The buyer and seller arrange the transport of the lots directly.

Any Marts held under these new protocols would be in full compliance with the advice, and guidance of the National Public Health Emergency Team, with Public Health protocols fully adhered to

LSL currently supplies thee major livestock marts in Ireland namely Gortatlea in Kerry, Carnaross in Meath and Manorhamilton in Leitrim, which are amongst the most important marts in the country

Over the past number of weeks with the pending pandemic of COVID-19, LSL set out to combine years of developed technology to prepare for a situation where marts could be closed to the public, but that normal public auctions could be replaced by online trading. 

Due to COVID-19 public safety restrictions, LSL software can run solely online auctions at the marts to facilitate farm-to-farm sales with no public present at the mart. No public or farmers will enter the mart facilities. All bidding and viewing will be carried out entirely online.

LSL online bidding solution is an entirely ‘contactless’ system of selling live animals. All engagement with the farmer takes place online. It also ensures complete instant electronic compliance and checks to DAFM (Dept of Agriculture, Food and the Marine), and AIM (Animal Identification and Movement)regulations and movement compliance.

Last Tuesday (March 24th) LSL tested the final version of this concept, with a live mart at Carnaross, Co Meath, before the Government shut-down. Webcams were installed into the ring and online bidding via mobile phone and PC were tested. 

This was a pilot test with some farmers bidding and buying animals online via mobile App and PC’s remotely from the mart. This trial was very well received and exceeded expectations

The App is easily and readily available, at no charge to the farmer, via Android and Apple platforms.