Winter started on 10 September when the in-calf heifers went into the shed, said dairy farmer Danny Birmingham operating in Doonbeg, Clare.

“The main herd were getting silage by the second week of October. They’d usually be out until 1 November. We have no fertiliser or urea out.

“There are 60 bales of silage left, which I hope I have a fortnight of feeding left in. The cows are getting 5.5kg of meal in the parlour and 2.2kg of fodder stretcher, both of which are very costly.

“We got slurry out on 30ac in January, of which six acres were silage ground. Our ground will need a good dry week before anything can be done. The land is very heavy.”

Planting

“It is frightening how wet the land is,” were the words of Eddie Doyle a tillage farmer based in Mooncoin, Kilkenny.

He currently has no potatoes in, when he would usually have “70 to 80% of them planted by this stage.

“It will be the middle of April before anything is planted.

“We plant vegetables too but there is nothing in the ground yet.”

Sheep farmer Noel Walsh, from Kilrossanty, Waterford, said that he is very tight for straw.

“I’d say I have two weeks left. I have neighbours who are out of silage and straw, I have never seen it so bad in this locality.”

Kieran Sullivan, Kilmacthomas, Waterford, is operating a calf-to-beef system. His slurry tank is nearly full and he has one bale of silage left.

Despite heavy rain in recent days, he said that the ground has dried up a bit, and he hopes to have his cattle out soon.

He got some fertiliser spread last week.

“I usually cut for silage in the middle of May, but that will be delayed this year. I would say a smaller area will be cut first. It will be the end of May, possibly June, weather dependent when I get it cut.”