Kilfenora Mart - Seasonal Saturday Livestock Sale

What to Expect

Kilfenora Mart, at Cahermaine on the edge of Kilfenora village, is Clare Co-operative Marts’ outlet for the Burren and North Clare, an area of thin, rocky grazing land where farming is dominated by suckler and store cattle rather than tillage. Like Scariff, it does not sell every week, running a general cattle sale of calves and weanlings on selected Saturdays from around 11am, concentrated mainly in the spring and autumn store seasons. The mart is the closest livestock outlet for farmers around Kilfenora, Corofin, Kilnaboy and the wider Burren, sparing them the longer drive to Ennis or Galway marts. Because sale dates are not fixed weekly, the Kilfenora phone line is only staffed on the mornings a sale is actually running, so farmers and buyers are advised to check the claremarts.ie sale calendar or ring the Ennis head office in advance of a planned visit. Registered buyers can also bid remotely through the MartBids online platform on Kilfenora sale days, on the same terms as the other three Clare Marts yards, once they have telephoned the Ennis office for approval. Kilfenora itself is best known to visitors for its cathedral ruins and high crosses and as the traditional home of the Kilfenora Céilí Band, but the mart remains a working part of the town’s farming economy.

Good to Know

• Seasonal Saturdays from around 11am, concentrated in spring and autumn; confirm the date before travelling.
• Venue: Clare Co-operative Marts, Cahermaine, Kilfenora, Co. Clare, V95 XN59.
• Free for the public to attend; commission charged to sellers on stock sold.
• Mart phone, sale days only: 065 708 8043. General entries via Ennis office: 065 682 4411.
• Online bidding available via MartBids, subject to prior approval from Ennis.

Getting There

Kilfenora is on the R476, around 25km north-west of Ennis via the N85. Cahermaine is a short distance outside the village on the Ennis road, with parking on site.