BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES!

Flood warning for eight counties as temperatures drop Farmers forced to import emergency supplies of fodder After six months of miserable weather, still no sign of a let-up

THE country is bracing itself for even more flooding and freezing conditions, just as the Government has finally accepted that farmers are in the middle of a cattle feeding crisis.

One farmer’s emotional video plea has already moved tens of thousands of Facebook viewers, after he revealed: ‘Personally, mentally, I cannot go on much longer.’

And now residents across eight counties – Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford – have been issued a 24-hour yellow warning for flooding today.

And a weather warning came into effect at 9pm yesterday, with temperatures in many areas falling as low -3C and -4C. Wexford farmer Mattie White

has told how his cattle are nearly falling over from hunger – and they ‘have never, ever been as thin in all my memory’.

He took to Facebook in an emotional video to appeal for help from Government officials and the public.

He told viewers that ‘personally, mentally, I cannot go on much longer’ because of the financial burden of buying feed and nursing sick calves.

Mr White added that the farming community has been ‘very badly let down by both the Minister for Agriculture [Michael Creed] and by our Government’.

It comes as one animal collection company in Co. Meath said it had seen an increase of at least 30% in dead animals in Cavan and Westmeath. This year it collected about 20 tonnes of dead farm animals because of the weather, according to a spokesman for the company, which did not want to be named.

The grim flooding and freezing forecasts come as Minister Creed acknowledged the extent of the animal feed shortage.

He said his officials are developing a scheme to import animal feeds. The last time fodder was imported was in 2013, and 140,000 tonnes were required to make up for the shortage.

Typically, cattle are grazing out in the fields by St Patrick’s Day, but the adverse conditions have forced farmers to keep them

‘One of worst the winters I can recall’

indoors due to soggy land. This has led to grain shortages in some parts of the country, along with overcrowding in sheds, which can lead to disease.

Fodder supplies have been in short supply since Storm Emma in February.

Pedigree farmer and Farmers Journal writer Hannah Quinn Mulligan told the Irish Daily Mail she is ‘one of the lucky ones’ because she has about three weeks’ worth of fodder left.

‘We have run out of silage that we made last year and I bought 25 bales over Christmas, as an emergency measure, thinking I’d never need to use them,’ said Ms Quinn Mulligan. ‘Now we’re using, on average, nine bales a week.’

She farms in Co. Limerick with her 77-year-old grandmother who said this is ‘one of the worst winters I can remember in the area’.

However, there was hope for farmers yesterday as Dairygold, one of the country’s largest coops, sourced 2,500 tonnes of hay from the UK, to begin arriving today.

It will distribute the imported fodder through its members network, at cost price to farmers, but called on the Government to help with transport expenses.

Minister Creed met the farm advisory body Teagasc and dairy co-ops in Cork yesterday following Dairygold’s announcement.

After months of claiming that there was ‘adequate fodder’ in the country, he conceded on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland yesterday that if the adverse weather continues, ‘it’s likely that in three weeks’ time we would have additional demand for fodder’.

However, the Irish Farmers’ Association said the Department of Agriculture’s response was ‘too little too late’ and that the details of the plan ‘should be worked out immediately’.

Ms Quinn Mulligan said she is confident ‘things will get better, because the co-ops are importing fodder’. She said she is hopeful the weather will ease up too.

However, Met Éireann is forecasting heavy rain this evening, while there are spot flooding warnings for the coming days.

THE miserable weather, which shows no sign of abating with another severe weather warning from Met Éireann, may be a trial for everyone, but only those from farming stock or rural backgrounds know about the true scale of the problems created by prolonged bad weather.

It’s not just the logistical nightmare that farmers face when their supplies of fodder are fast depleting and the land is too waterlogged and bare to allow their cattle out to graze. It’s also the psychological toll of the uncertainty created by unseasonal flooding and freezing temperatures on their own livelihoods, the welfare of their animals, and future of their farms.

Farmer Mattie White, from Co. Wexford, has highlighted the desperation and isolation felt by the farming community in a powerful Facebook post. ‘Please, if you care, can you share this for the sake of the farming community and myself to create awareness of the hardship we are going through at the moment, as nobody seems to care?’ he writes, movingly.

It goes without saying that no trouble should be spared in this current emergency to ensure that farmers who suffer most from heavy rainfall and snowstorms receive the earliest assistance as regards imported fodder, and that communities and co-operative groups pull together and help one another where possible.

In what may well be regarded by farmers as long overdue, Agriculture Minister Michael Creed is to introduce a scheme for importing fodder, while one of the country’s biggest co-ops, Dairygold, has announced that it has sourced 2,500 tonnes of haylage and hay from the UK, and that shipments will start arriving imminently.

With any luck, these measures will help alleviate the crisis and ensure that most livestock will survive until the arrival of warmer weather.