Letter: Silage shortage is not a failure – don’t be afraid to ask for help

DEAR SIR: As I look out at the rain on another morning in the worst spring weather that I have seen, my mind goes back to spring 2013. That was another year with incredibly challenging weather and one that I will not forget.

I ran out of silage on 1 March 2013. This was an inconvenience but not an immediate crisis as there was plenty of silage around. However, the weather got worse and grass growth never arrived. Silage stocks on every farm became a problem.

I was lucky though. I had a friend nearby who had silage to spare and was more than willing to help. Unfortunately as the weeks went by I could see that his stocks were starting to diminish so I had to find another source. In the meantime, the east wind was blowing and nothing was growing.

I racked my brains to think of people with surplus silage. I drove around the area and every stack of bales or pit of silage was considered. In fairness, almost everyone I asked helped me out and we eventually got through it.

However, here was the real problem. To me, in my mind, running out of silage was a failure and I felt I was a failure. I was going around the country looking at other peoples’ stocks of silage and thinking that I don’t have any feed left so I was useless.

I really felt it was humiliating going to ask them could they spare some silage for a stupid farmer who can’t even keep enough feed for his own stock. And this was not a financial issue. The farm was financially sound and had no problem paying for fodder.

This year is different because I have enough fodder. I meet other farmers and we talk about how awful the weather is and I agree, but for me it is nothing compared to 2013. So as I look at what other farmers are going through, there are two things that come to mind.

1. Running out of silage is not a personal failure. It is at worst caused by mistakes, weather and/or bad luck. These things happen to everyone. Do not take it to heart.

2. Do not feel humiliated asking other people for silage. I can tell you for certain that they do not think that you are a failure because at some time in the past, they were all in the same position.

I can now look back at the positives from spring 2013. I have a fabulous wife and family who supported me. I had great friends who not only supplied me with silage when they could but they were always on the end of the phone for a chat. I was financially able to cope. Growth did eventually return.

To finish, I would like to share one incident that happened. One miserable wet morning I had a problem with a cow and had to call out the vet. As you can imagine, this only lowered my mood even further.

A local vet was sent out and in the middle of his work we got talking about the weather and the feed situation. He just casually said that he had plenty of silage left and told me to go down to his farm and help myself.

This unexpected offer did so much to lift my mood. He, along with my friends and neighbours, carried me through that spring.

Look out for your neighbours. There is help out there, whether it be from neighbours, Teagasc, the co-ops or even organisations like Pieta House, but asking for help can be extremely difficult.