Declan Griffin, suckler farmer, Co Clare

“In general, my grazing land wouldn’t be bad. The two outside farms are burnt alright in Kilrush. We’ve heavy ground at home. Second-cut silage has grown 12in in the last couple of days. I had to feed out two or three bales a week in Kilkee for two weeks but have stopped now. Eight-hundred bales is what we’d normally aim to have and we will have that this year. The spring was so bad that we didn’t get to graze the silage ground before closing it off.”

John and Henry Graham, dairy and sucklers in Co Sligo

“Grass is just coming back this week after the drought. On 8 July we got the second cut in and that’s rocketing on to a third cut. There will be no surplus fodder. Guys are very nervous because we know there is no backstop. If stock go in two months early we won’t be able to source feed from the usual sources. We’re very grateful to the farmers in Tipperary who sent us up silage earlier in the year. We are in big trouble for straw.”

John Robinson, vet and organic farmer, Ballymote, Co Sligo

“So far, the weather this summer has really suited these parts. We haven’t suffered the scourge of over-stocking. While grazing in some cases was tight, very little fodder has been fed. The rain of the last two weeks has freshened up the grazing and given the second-cut silage the kick it needed. Farmers are disappointed and angry at GLAS. They feel if they had been allowed to make bales on low input pasture which had grown too strong in June, this would have created a fodder surplus. Concerns for the future are the availability of straw for winter bedding, and the predicted rise in the price of concentrates – will it be matched by the beef price? And then the worry about the rain: if it starts around here, it has a habit of not stopping.”