Cootehill Livestock Mart this week has become what is understood to be the first livestock mart in the country to move its entire mart software and server technology platform to cloud-based servers.
The cattle and sheep mart has been experiencing “substantial” internet issues, which resulted in unscheduled shutdowns of its selling operations and major repercussions for its business.
The final straw came on Wednesday, September 28th, 2022, during its main weekly cattle sale when the internet for the premises was completely switched off and could not return to complete the sale.
At the time of writing, the mart is still without main internet; however, it is fully operational with all sales as normal with no interruption.
The mart is using software provider, LSL Auctions’ latest technology, in-house mart/auction software which is capable of operating entirely in the cloud.
As LSL Auctions explained, this means it does not require onsite servers like conventional mart software systems.
On Wednesday night at 10 pm, with no internet for the foreseeable future and a completely full schedule for the week ahead, the mart held an emergency meeting.
The decision was made by senior mart management in consultation with LSL Auctions to move the entire operation to the cloud.
Cloud
The LSL Auctions software team worked from 5 am on Thursday until 3.30 pm and relocated the entire mart software and server system to a cloud-based platform.
The mart ran on Thursday at 6 pm, which is believed to be the first ever livestock mart in the country to operate entirely cloud-based with the assistance of the latest satellite connectivity technology.
All reporting to the government’s DAFM, Animal Information and Movement Service (AIMS) was reported from LSL Auctions software operating entirely in the cloud.
All bidding in-house and online was received by the cloud servers, and sold lots with onward government-required movements to the DAFM were completed and reported from the cloud.
Drury comments
Cootehill Livestock Mart managing director, Mr Steven Drury, commented:
“The speed and setup of the software in the cloud are next level with no internet issues or glitches in the online video broadcasting to customers, as well as our office staff, seeing absolutely no issues in-house with the change to the cloud.”
“The accessibility to authorised staff securely is next generation. You can run the system from anywhere in the world now with the proper permissions and secure access.”
“It is amazing how they did what they did in less than 24 hours. However, I am aware that LSL had an entire team on the case and pulled out all the stops to get us into the cloud and back operating without disruption.”
“They did a fantastic job, and I personally believe after seeing the cloud system in operation, it is definitely the way forward.”
“For any mart that has similar downtime issues with intermittent internet, this has to be the absolute Rolls-Royce system for them to use.”
“This new form of satellite connectivity alongside LSL software is just far and above anything currently on the market in Europe from any research we have done.”
Features
He said all mart laptops now have “the ability to talk” to the cloud servers reporting all livestock movements and operations instantly.
He added this is an imperative live feature for all animals moving through the mart for each sale.
A huge added bonus is that the mart has the ability to carry out on-farm sales with movements reported instantly from the farm via laptops connected to LSL Cloud software and servers to the government’s AIM system.”
He commented: “This is a massive advantage for our clients wishing for efficient no-nonsense on farm sales.”
“Effectively with this system, every farm in Ireland could potentially be a mart with this unique software and cloud server combination.”
No disruption to sales
CEO of LSL Auctions, Brendan Hannigan, concluded:
“We have worked for many years on the cloud-based software technology for livestock marts. It is fantastic to see it in operation.”
“It removes a lot of potential localised issues like server failure, internet etc. We were very happy we had a solution and were able to move Cootehill to a completely cloud-based platform and ensure there was no disruption to their sales.”
In recent weeks, we spoke to the mart’s Noleen Curran, about its new DAFM-approved export lairage facility.
Read more in this news article.
