Hopes for better autumn growth after cold summer

Robert Kindregan

A cold summer has left many Westmeath farmers hoping for a better autumn ahead of a looming fodder shortage.

Met Éireann figures show the average temperature this summer was 14.5°C, the coolest in almost a decade, which has led to less grass growth nationwide.

It followed one of the wettest summers on record in 2023, adding to pressures in Irish agriculture.

A survey from the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) in June revealed that 54% of farmers did not expect to have enough fodder for this winter. It’s forced the government to step in, and Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue announced a fodder transport support measure last month to help ease the burden on hard-pressed farmers.

Westmeath IFA chair Richard O’Brien explained how farmers have been hit by the cold weather.

“Grass is back across the board this year,” he said.

“We had a wet spring, and ground temperatures were cold, which led to poor growth and delayed our first cut harvest.

“When you don’t get out in May, it has a knock-on effect as the season goes on.

“Even apart from the availability of cutting and growing, all of the yields are back.

“In a field where we’d get 70 or 80 bales a couple of years ago, this year we’re probably getting about 55 to 60 bales out of it.”

He said cold starts to summers have happened in the past, but farmers have managed.

“Sometimes you might get caught with the first cut a bit late, but you’d generally make up for it in the second cut with more growth and volume,” he said.

“That didn’t happen this year, and it must be because of the cold temperatures this summer.

“There was no two-week spell where you could look back and say, ‘Oh God, remember that lovely stretch of weather’ – it was only a couple of days here and there.”

Mr O’Brien said it’s been difficult for farmers, especially considering how wet summer 2023 was.

“It’s terrible to be heading into the winter this year again, 12 months later, looking at lower fodder stocks, and hoping for a bailout,” he said.

“It’s demoralising from a farmer’s point of view when we’re sort of at the begging bowl again, facing another Christmas short on fodder.

“But we’re still optimistic that the end of September can still come good, and we’ll get growth right into October, which would extend the grazing season and shorten the winter so we’re not eating into the fodder stocks too early.

“It might take the pressure off, because I know farmers in other parts of the country, not Westmeath, who didn’t get the chance to make a second cut of silage at all.

“Thankfully, in Westmeath, I haven’t had anyone come to me yet who is in particularly dire straits.”

He added that there’s ongoing debate around whether fertiliser is behind the lack of grass growth this summer.

Total artificial fertiliser sales dropped by 18% last year to 1.1 million tonnes, following another 18% reduction in 2022, according to the Central Statistics Office.

That means farmers are currently ahead of the state’s Climate Action Plan target to limit chemical nitrogen use to 300,000 tonnes annually, as current usage has already fallen to 281,000 tonnes.

Mr O’Brien said many farmers are unsure whether the more environmentally friendly fertilisers are effective.

“People didn’t get the results they were expecting,” he said.

“There was a big push to change fertilisers from an environmental point of view, and a lot of farmers switched over to meet emissions targets.

“Of the fertiliser samples that were tested, 11% haven’t met standards, and people are wondering what that means for fodder.”

He explained what local farmers will have to do this winter if there’s not enough fodder to go around.

“Some people might have to go back to the old rule of reducing [cattle] stock to match up with their feed,” he said.

“There’s probably silage being made that will be available for sale, but then it goes back to supply and demand.

“If it’s very scarce, the price will go up, and then it’s about what you can afford.

“You would have farmers helping each other out too, but if there’s a particular area in the county or country that’s been hit really badly, you run into trouble because you can’t rely on your neighbour when he’s in the same boat.”