Animal Supermarket | Sedgemoor

To market, to market, they continue to come...  SEDGEMOOR, ENGLAND – In an area next to the M5 motorway, farmers from across southwestern England gather at Sedgemoor Livestock Market.  Purpose-built in 2008, it’s where sheep, dairy and beef cows, poultry, and pigs can be found for sale.

Sedgemoor has effectively replaced several livestock auctions in small market towns and put them all under one roof, akin to village shops being replaced by a Wal-Mart. Where you might have had tens of farmers, here you have hundreds selling and bidding.

Two regular markets are held on Mondays and Saturdays, with other special sales held throughout the week. Farmers come from afar – Cornwall, South Wales, and Gloucester – to trade in economies of scale, filling heavy trucks with hundreds of animals.

As well as being a place to buy and sell, the market is the heart of a regional farming community. Sedgemoor’s cafe and market provide a space for people to socialize in what can often be an isolating job. Despite the popularity of online auctions, it seems as if Sedgemoor Livestock Market is still an essential part of farming communities.

Further images are available on request. This body of work has been published on BBC In Pictures and in CSM (USA).  All images © Jonathan Browning.