‘We have plenty of grass but it’s so wet we can’t get out to graze it'

Since the end of July, farmers along the western seaboard have endured consistent and persistent rainfall.

At first it was an inconvenience but as the days and weeks have progressed, the situation has become serious to the point of farmers being concerned that they are facing into a shortage of feed by the spring.

Malin Head in Co Donegal had 103mm of rain this October, compared to just 37.6mm in 2016, and Belmulllet in Co Mayo recorded 125.7mm of rain in October, compared to 47.8mm in 2016.

Cattle have been housed in some of the wetter parts of the country full-time since the end of August or the start of September. Those farmers have been banking on a dry back end to the year, which has not happened.

Cattle are housed. Second-cut silage has yet to be made and farmers are fearful about the long winter ahead.

Second cuts

Teagasc adviser Seamus Campbell is based in Donegal and told the Irish Farmers Journal: “Probably half of farmers didn’t get a second cut of silage … we’re looking at running out of fodder by the month of February.”

Advisers are recommending that farmers start supplementing fodder with concentrates now, as it’s expected that the price of straw or silage will rise in spring when farmers become desperate for fodder.

Due to the wet weather, Teagasc estimates that 20% of straw in the country still had to be harvested, and farmers nationwide have reported difficulty in sourcing good quality straw for fodder or bedding.

Straw shortage

The average cost of a 4x4 bale of straw is between €17 to €24 out of the shed. There have already been reports of silage bales selling for €40, and 8x4x3 bales of straw selling for €65 each.

One contractor stated: “There won’t be any straw left to buy in the country in four weeks.”

However, most worrying is the toll the situation has had on farmers’ mental health, with many describing the situation as “bleak”, and pinning all their hopes on a dry spring.

John and Henry Graham: dairy and suckler farmers Drumfin, Co Sligo

Cows have been in around here since 12 August, on and off. At the moment, all the sucklers are in and the calves are creeping out. We have plenty of grass in the fields but it’s so wet we can’t get out to graze it. This year, grass was getting ahead of farmers and then it was raining so much you couldn’t get cows to graze it. There were covers of 3,000kg dry matter that would usually have been 1,500kg. Some second cuts still haven’t been cut here and it’s not a poor management thing – everybody that has been affected. If I was feeding the same way as I was last year, I’d be out by 15 January, so I need to stretch that to 15 March this year, which will cost me money.

Neville Myles: suckler farmer Ballyshannon, Co Donegal

I see a huge fodder shortage next spring. Suckler farmers are going to be the worst affected and they need to take steps now to make sure they have enough fodder. I reckon there’s 500 acres of second cut to be cut in this area; four good days are meant to be coming this week and farmers will be hoping to get it cut. But the feed value of that silage and after-grass will be very poor. It seems to be raining with us when it’s not raining with anyone else and the fun has gone out of farming for a lot of people.

John Robinson: vet and organic farmer Ballymote, Co Sligo

There’s going to be a fodder crisis due to farmers having no second cut of silage.

They kept waiting for the good weather and it never came. The length of the winter is killing farmers and they can’t see how they can compete with the rest of the country.

It’s quite bleak. In a lot of cases, off-farm income is keeping farms going.

People are losing heart. It’s a miracle prices are as good as they are, and people are inclined to sell what they can.

The consensus is that there’s going to be less cows and more trees in this area in the future.

Declan Griffin: suckler farmer, Doonbeg, Co Clare

We have 90 suckler cows and 90% of them have been housed in the last four weeks. Two months ago I had 30 cows in and we were zero-grazing.

Our rainfall has been savage since 20 July. Last year we brought cattle in on 6 November but this year is a total different story.

There’s a lot of dairy farmers around here that would’ve had cattle in earlier than me. People around here are worried about next spring; we’re seriously dependent on a dry spring.

At the moment, straw is an awful price. A few months ago I bought 55 bales at €20 a bale, but that price would’ve gone up now. We scanned all our cows and any cow that’s not in-calf is being sold. No surplus stock is being kept this winter.

Raymond Barlow: dairy farmer Riverstown, Co Sligo

The cows are in full-time for over a month and we had them in at night since mid-August. I made a second cut of silage on 19 July and the weather broke two days later. It’s been raining ever since.

"I’ve used 100 bales of this year’s second cut and a quarter of the silage pit is down already, and I’ve 100 bales I didn’t get to make. I’m already feeding both hay and straw, and a lot of concentrates as well. I’ve culled cows and taken them out of the system, and a lot of farmers in this area have done the same because they can’t afford to feed them. We struggled to get our slurry out, but we got enough out to keep us going until January, but it was a struggle for all farmers across the western seaboard.

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