It is possible that at some future date somebody may unearth a ballad about the reopening of Bandon Mart in West Cork yesterday after a closure of almost four months.
It was the day agricultural Ireland stumbled back to normality having survived the foot-and-mouth outbreaks in Britain and the North.
A mart is more than just a place where cattle are sold. It has huge social importance and is one of the few places where farmers, who lead isolated lives, meet and relax and sometimes do business.
It also provides an outlet for those who sell to the farming community. Back in their rightful place yesterday were the men selling cabbage plants and boots and wet weather gear and other goods that end up on farms.
Booked in for sale at the Cork Marts complex on the outskirts of the town were 600 cattle and nearly 1,000 calves, a small sale for this time of year.
But, in the best traditions of rural Ireland, the young and the old, the brave and the bold assembled there to see the VIPs, the media and the spin doctors.
It was a special day for the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, who, snug in his own constituency, seemed to have descended from heaven to walk among ordinary mortals.
The tall Corkman was greeted with smiles and applause as he moved through the crowds of farmers and dealers and tanglers and blockers and the rest who make up such events.
He went first to the small sales ring to look at the first calf sales and saw smart bidding for a small Friesian heifer belonging to James O'Donovan, Enniskean, which sold for £80.
He watched the dealers, who keep the wheels of the trade oiled with their buying and selling, bid and outbid one another in their ringside seats, obviously enjoying the attention.
Then, flanked by the two main farm leaders, Mr Pat O'Rourke, president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association and Mr Tom Parlon, the Irish Farmers' Association president, it was off through the maze of buildings to the main sales ring.
There was a fair amount of jibing when the Minister went into the ring to address the farmers. They were speculating what price he might make at auction.
"Fine Gael might buy him. He'd be useful to them because they need a leader," said one farmer to his neighbour who was clearly not a Fianna Fail supporter.
The Minister told the farmers they were witnessing a piece of history with the reopening of the mart but reminded them it was from Carlisle mart that foot-and-mouth disease was spread to England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France and the Netherlands.
He used the occasion to remind them to be vigilant and promised that everything that could be done was being done to reopen the vital export markets before the main flood of cattle hits the market in September.
He had some comfort, too, for the live exporters who had travelled to the mart but said they could not buy because they could not hold on to animals for 30 days, a stipulation in the new rules designed to stamp out rogue trading.
The Minister, who was travelling on from the event to an EU meeting of agriculture ministers, said he would review this rule within a week depending on the success of yesterday's reopening of the marts.
The carnival mood continued into the afternoon and in the canteen where farmers who had not seen one another for months were having noisy reunions. Staff, who had been laid off, were also smiling.