Farmers need urgent support to tackle crisis

FARMING is said to be the profession of hope, no seed was ever sown without the thrill of anticipation. However, seldom has the depth of that optimism been as tested as of late between big freezes and freak rainfalls. From snow drifts to flooded fields, patience and resources are in scant supply and the silage shortage is but the latest to hit rural communities.

Teagasc has set up a forage register to try to help those struggling to source supplies. According to Dermot McCarthy, head of the Teagasc advisory service, it is critical to act now and complete a feed budget which will indicate how much silage can be fed on a daily basis to stock to stretch the feed, and how the balance of requirements can be met from grass and supplements. Any surplus might then be distributed to those in need.

Farmers will band together as they always do in times of adversity, but Agriculture Minister Michael Creed must recognise the scale of the problem. According to Irish Farmers’ Association president Joe Healy: “This is very serious from a human and animal welfare point of view. Grass growth for the month of March has been at a third of normal growth.”

It has been pointed out some animals were taken in to sheds in autumn and have yet to be released, such are the conditions. Solutions have to be found urgently or many farmers could be facing ruin with finances running out due to the punishing costs of surviving the severe winter.