“Carrying an extra tonne of silage per cow and using that as a reserve there from year to year for a year like 2013 or like this year – that’s the type of policy we have going forward,” Teagasc’s head of animal and grassland research Pat Dillon told RTÉ’s Countrywide programme this Saturday.

“We’ve had two storms in the last six months and this has become more regular in recent years. As a risk factor, we have to become more risk-adverse and carry a bit more feed from year to year.”

Our margins are gone so tight we can’t afford that

Laois IFA chair Francie Gorman acknowledged Teagasc’s role in making this technical recommendation, but questioned the economics of it based on his own farm’s experience.

“We’re into silage that was made three years ago. That’s €700-800 lying in the yard, dead. Our margins are gone so tight we can’t afford that,” he said, pointing to the “race to the bottom in terms of farm incomes” behind the current fodder crisis.

Expansion questioned

There has also been criticism of increasing stocking rates and dairy expansion in recent days, with ICSA president Patrick Kent saying that “systems have been pushed beyond their limits and there is no safety cushion built in for when things go wrong”.

“There is too much reliance on getting stock out to grass in February, particularly in the dairying sector. This is coupled with far too many dairy farmers getting into unmanageable numbers,” Kent said.

Dillon pointed out that a similar fodder crisis erupted in 2013, before dairy expansion. He denied that Ireland’s larger dairy herd had caused the ongoing shortage, but acknowledged that “it has probably contributed to it”.

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