The record floods over the winter have disappeared from national headlines but many farmers are still dealing with high water levels and waterlogged land on a daily basis.
Micheal Flaherty of Tierneevin, Gort. Levels are still receding and while his cows have been out for a while, Flaherty has only seven out of 22 paddocks available to graze as the rest are flooded. Photo:Andrew Downes
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“It was like as if there was an atomic bomb with what is left now,” said Michael Flaherty, describing his fields where water levels have dropped. “It will be at least the end of July before things are back to normal, it’s going to cost me an absolute fortune.”
Flaherty is a dairy farmer from Gort, Co Galway. He said that his farm was effectively “on an island really” at the height of the floods, but there is a lot of water remaining even at this stage.
Levels are still receding and while his cows have been out for a while, Flaherty has only seven out of 22 paddocks available to graze as the rest are flooded.
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Silage pit
The bottom half of his silage pit “had to be thrown out. I’ll get something for the silage but nothing for reseeding.
“It’s an awful strain mentally. We’re four months looking at it now. It would drive you mad and with the price of milk too,” he said.
IFA Galway county chair Pat Murphy told the Irish Farmers Journal that the main problem is a lack of grass growth.
The water was “fast to rise but slow to go away. Water has receded significantly in some areas, but it is the length of time out of action and the cost of reseeding that’s the problem,” Murphy said.
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Title: 'It was like as if there was an atomic bomb'
The record floods over the winter have disappeared from national headlines but many farmers are still dealing with high water levels and waterlogged land on a daily basis.
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“It was like as if there was an atomic bomb with what is left now,” said Michael Flaherty, describing his fields where water levels have dropped. “It will be at least the end of July before things are back to normal, it’s going to cost me an absolute fortune.”
Flaherty is a dairy farmer from Gort, Co Galway. He said that his farm was effectively “on an island really” at the height of the floods, but there is a lot of water remaining even at this stage.
Levels are still receding and while his cows have been out for a while, Flaherty has only seven out of 22 paddocks available to graze as the rest are flooded.
Silage pit
The bottom half of his silage pit “had to be thrown out. I’ll get something for the silage but nothing for reseeding.
“It’s an awful strain mentally. We’re four months looking at it now. It would drive you mad and with the price of milk too,” he said.
IFA Galway county chair Pat Murphy told the Irish Farmers Journal that the main problem is a lack of grass growth.
The water was “fast to rise but slow to go away. Water has receded significantly in some areas, but it is the length of time out of action and the cost of reseeding that’s the problem,” Murphy said.
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