Warm weather to return but at cost to farmers
Temperatures are set to rise to the mid-20s again this weekend amid warnings that the ongoing dry, warm conditions are going to have significant consequences for farmers, with those in the dairy sector looking at their income dropping by half on last year.
Met Éireann is predicting temperatures will be “rather warm over the bank holiday weekend”, with high pressure due to move up across the country.
While some rain is expected early on Friday and in parts on Monday, the national forecaster predicts conditions will be “generally dry and calm with good sunshine at times”.
However, while the outlook is good for the various festivals and events taking place across the country this weekend, farmers are counting the cost of the prolonged drought.
As part of their mid-year outlook, Teagasc economists have analysed the potential consequences of the year’s unusual weather patterns, given that a long winter was followed by an abnormal spring rainfall pattern, which in turn was followed by summer drought conditions and unusually high temperatures.
“Overall, farm income will be down substantially across all the main farm systems in 2018, with dairy farmers experiencing the largest income reductions,” warned Teagasc.
“While much will depend on grass growing conditions over the rest of the season, it is likely that incomes on dairy farms in 2018 will typically be only half of what was achieved in 2017.
“The initial impact of these weather anomalies was felt via elevated levels of winter feeding of cattle and late planting of spring sown tillage crops,” said Teagasc.
This was then followed by high levels of spring rainfall, which resulted in cattle being removed from pasture and re-housed for a period. By the middle of summer, drought conditions led to a collapse in grass growth, limited grazing and an interruption to silage production.
Teagasc said dairy farmers, who tend to operate at a considerably higher stocking rate than drystock farmers, have been badly affected, with many finding that their feed bills have doubled due to the limited availability of grass and fodder.
“In addition, farm milk prices were reduced in the first half of 2018, and are likely to be back about 10% on last year’s levels,” warned the agri-food research and development body.
“In spite of an expected increase in cereal prices coupled with a substantial straw price increase this year, a steep reduction in cereal yields and associated reduction in straw yields will mean that tillage farm incomes in 2018 will be down and could return to the low levels experienced in 2016.”
Meanwhile, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association’s suckler chairman John Halley has said that it is increasingly likely that a targeted aid package for farmers who are suffering acutely from the drought will have to be considered.
“Breeding farms have a bigger challenge than trading farms when it comes to a fodder crisis because the impact of selling breeding cows is to destroy a lifetime’s work.
"Whereas dairy farms do have a lot of support from co-ops and also the benefit of cash reserves from last year, no such comfort exists for suckler farms.
"However, we must recognise that the situation can still be rescued on many farms if sufficient rain falls in the coming weeks,” he said.
