The decision by the Government to ask all livestock marts to close has been described as "disappointing". The closures present huge issues in the farming sector as farmers will have no outlets to sell cattle or sheep.
So far this year, more than one million calves have been born on Irish farms - almost 900,000 of them on dairy farms. They need to be sold and the bulk of them need to be exported, so the decision to close the marts will have huge implications.
Sales are stalled and now efforts are under way to try and devise a system to sell cattle. The Mart Managers of Ireland are in discussions with the Department of Agriculture.