Kilkenny Mart - Monday Sheep and Calves Sales

Kilkenny Mart runs its weekly sheep and calf sale every Monday morning at its Cillin Hill yard on the Dublin Road, one of two fixed sale days that anchor the working week for farmers across the south east. Sheep go under the hammer in Ring 2 from 10:15am, with calf sales following in the same ring from 12:30pm. It is a genuine working livestock market rather than a staged visitor attraction, but the ring-side bidding, the auctioneer’s patter and the trailers queuing at the yard gates are as authentic a slice of rural Kilkenny as exists anywhere in the county.

What to expect

Kilkenny Mart is a co-operative livestock marketplace that has traded at Cillin Hill for decades and now combines traditional ring-side bidding with real-time online bidding through the Martbids platform, so buyers who cannot travel can still bid on stock as it passes through the ring. Monday’s sale is split by class: sheep first, from 10:15am in Ring 2, with calves following from 12:30pm in the same ring. Numbers vary with the season, busier for calves in spring and for store sheep in autumn. Farmers, dealers and agents gather from mid-morning, and the mart canteen does steady trade in tea and fried breakfasts before and during sales. Anyone can stand at the ring rail and watch; it is not a ticketed event, simply a working farm business that happens to be open to the public.

Getting there

Kilkenny Mart is on Cillin Hill on the Dublin Road, about two kilometres north east of Kilkenny city centre, with its own yard parking for cars and livestock trailers. There is no public transport laid on specifically for the mart, but Kilkenny city’s Bus Éireann and rail services stop in the city centre, a short taxi ride away.

While you’re in Kilkenny City

Cillin Hill sits just outside the old city walls, so a visit to the mart pairs easily with time spent in Kilkenny City itself, from the medieval streets around the castle to the shops on High Street. There is more to see across Co. Kilkenny.

Good to know

• Date and time: every Monday, sheep from 10:15am and calves from 12:30pm, both in Ring 2
• Venue: Kilkenny Mart, Cillin Hill, Dublin Road, Kilkenny
• Free to attend as a spectator; only registered buyers and sellers can bid
• Recurs weekly, year round
• Live online bidding also available through Martbids
• Contact: 056 772 1407, Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 5pm