Farmers in the west of Ireland are reporting a decent year for grass growth, with some looking forward to second and third cuts of silage.

With recent rainfall, soil moisture deficits have improved vastly on last week. In areas such as Donegal, grass growth figures are back up in the region of 85kg DM/ha/day, according to PastureBase. However, soil moisture deficits remain quite high in parts of Leinster and Munster, still close to 60mm or 70mm, according to figures from Met Éireann. In these parts, grass growth is as low as 8kg DM/ha/day in Carlow, 17kg in Waterford and Tipperary.

Western farmers stockpile fodder for winter with third cuts

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Rainfall was above average in the seven days to Tuesday in most areas. A lot of the country recorded twice the average rainfall, with the highest totals across the southeast (47mm).

The areas that have higher numbers of stock are the areas worst affected by the drought. The Animal Identification and Movements System (AIMS) data for 2017 shows that Ireland is most densely stocked in the south, the midlands and the east.

Farmers in the west rely on these areas to supply surplus fodder stocks in the event of a long winter or poor silage season. And while western farmers have had a good year for making silage, they have not reported that they will have fodder for sale.

Deficit

Meanwhile, in a survey of 160 dairy farmers carried out by the IGA and AIB, less than 25% said they had sufficient fodder reserves for the winter. Almost 85% of those surveyed from Connacht/Ulster said they had enough but just one in five in Leinster have enough silage made. This figure reduced to 13% for those from Munster.

Of those surveyed, 8% said they had a deficit in excess of 50%. Three-quarters are currently feeding out silage.