Farmers face soaring costs after worst grass growth in decades

Farmers across Tipperary are calling on the Minister for Agriculture to fully acknowledge the impending fodder crisis and take action by making low cost interest loans available to farmers as quickly as possible.

Grass growth across the country is estimated to be short up to 40 percent in some areas meaning farmers with a big fodder deficit are not going to be able to make up numbers and may have to look at offloading a significant volume of stock over the coming months. With meal prices also set to increase this winter, coupled with silage bales selling for more than €40 each, keeping stock levels up will become increasingly difficult.

Farmers also say Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed TD needs to act fast to import extra fodder from the continent or to provide subsidies for meal, warning that cattle will starve if next Spring has sustained heavy rainfall.

Earlier this week Tipperary farmer and ICMSA President Pat McCormack added his voice to the calls for the Brexit Low Cost Loan Scheme for farmers to be opened as quickly as possible given the “massive pressures” facing farmers at present.

“Cashflow is now a massive issue for farmers and one that will only intensify as the year progresses. These “Low Cost Loans” have to materialise quickly and must be made available at interest rates similar to the last scheme – but the emphasis has to be on rolling them out to those farmers who need them most urgently and that could be a very significant number.

“The Brexit loan scheme for SME’s was opened in March 2018 and farmers - given the highly publicized pressures on them – are at a loss to understand why there is such a delay in their scheme. We have to see this opened and operating immediately," stated Mr. McCormack.

Gilbert, Raymond and Dwayne Stanley pictured on their farm in Thurles. Pic: Eamonn McGee

With hay and silage prices rising to over €40 per bale and meal costs set to soar many farmers up and down the country are facing one of the most expensive winters in decades.

Speaking to the Tipperary Star, Dwayne Stanley, who is in a farming partnership with his father Raymond and uncle Gilbert, estimates that their farm currently has a deficit of nearly 1,000 bales.

Dwayne, who farms 123 hectares of grassland outside Thurles, says that every farmer in the country has been hit following the summer drought.

“Every farmer is in a deficit now for feed. We got hit with Ophelia, then the record amount of snow, then there was the rainfall and then the drought. It’s been one of the worst years for grass growth in history and no farmer is escaping,” he said.

Over the previous 12 months, the Stanleys had invested considerably in the farm introducing new water systems and paddock management with the intention of expanding the farm out from 330 cattle to nearly 600 cattle over the next four years.

“Basically it wasn’t until the end of April that we got all of the cattle out on grass so we were using fodder until then.”

During the spring, the Stanleys also sold 50 bales to neighbours that needed extra fodder.

“May was a good month. At one point we had 430 surplus bales in. Then it all dried up.”

“We had to do our second cut a lot earlier than expected and we bought in 125 hay bales during the drought. At one point we were feeding seven to eight bales a day to cattle in the fields. When they were gone we’d no choice but to start using our winter fodder.

“Grass growth is nearly back now but for the amount of cattle we have, we still have a significant fodder deficit for next year,” says Dwayne estimating that they are short nearly 1,000 bales as it stands but hope to make up an extra 500 after the third cut.

“We’ve come to the conclusion of off-loading cattle which was never the plan. We sold 24 last Monday and we’re planning on another 40 to go in the next six weeks.”

“There’s a lot of extra costs this year with buying in hay and the meal bill will be higher as well.

“We know the Minister can’t control the weather but there is a definite need to organise cheap loans for farmers. Farmers are extending themselves financially. We’ve put contingency plans in place and are in a position to offload stock but there’s a lot of farmers who won’t be able to do that.”

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Pic: William Barry, Cappawhite, with his grandson Gerry at Thurles Mart on Monday

“It's been a tough year, everyone's in the same boat”

As farmers from across the county flowed through the doors of Thurles Mart on Monday, and once discussions of Limerick’s triumphant win over Galway had quietened down, talk quickly returned to familiar ground and the most pressing issue at hand.

“We had our first proper drop of rain on Sunday night,” says Cappawhite farmer William Barry over a cup of tea in the mart canteen.

“There’s farms up the road from me that got a good bit of rain over the last week or two but it kept missing my own place. Some fields are coming back a bit but it’s still very burnt up at home.”.

“Hay and straw are terrible scare altogether. There’s very few farmers in an okay position at the minute, they might make some of it back with the next cut but we had a bad spring, followed by a good May/ June and then everything burnt up.”

“I don’t know what can be done to be fair. The Minister can’t control the weather but I’m not sure they understand how disastrous this could be. It’s time to act now, not six months down the line,” he says.

Drombane farmer Pakie Gleeson says he’s one of many local farmers who’s had to dip into his winter fodder stock despite an improvement in grass growth in recent weeks.

“It’s been a tough year and everyone’s in the same boat. I’ve about 40 bales used already. I don’t know anyone who is in a comfortable position and confident of having enough fodder for the winter. We have to hope that the next couple of months are okay and we get a decent spring otherwise I don’t know what we’ll do," he says.