The extent of the flooding in western counties has become more apparent in the wake of storm Jorge.
Acres of farmland remain underwater in many counties, the highest levels since 2010.
Tom Lane of IFA Clare said: “I’m at Parteen, close to Limerick city, and the water is up really high all week.
"It has been high on the other side of the Ardnacrusha hydro station, by Cloonlara, all week as well. They are letting off 440 cubic litres per second at Parteen Weir, that has been increased since yesterday.
"It gets released up the canal to the hydro station. The station can take 385 to 400 cubic litres/second, and that’s running at full tilt at the moment.”
Farmers on the ground
Nearby, on a farm in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, a suckler farmer who did not want to be named, said that he has about 30 acres of farmland underwater.
“The flood is up more this year over any other year, but it’s actually a bit more manageable. The way the flood is lying, it’s lying across the land more and it’s stagnant, rather than a rush flooding,” he said.
There’s neighbours up the road and it’s in their sheds
“We’re not in the worst situation that ever there was, there’s neighbours up the road and it’s in their sheds. The water was slow rising this year, so we were better able to manage the consequences,” he said.
The farmer said that they get some flooding every year, but this is the latest month that it has ever happened, and also the second-highest flood that he has seen. The worst came in 2010.
“I would have seen water on the lower land before, but there’s even forestry down the road on higher ground and even that’s under water.”
Fodder
“All our cattle are in at the moment, there’s no stock out. It’s heavier type of soil around this part of the west, so we’re delaying. All the cows and calves are in, but it’s putting us on edge then because you’d be worried about scour and disease,” said the Galway farmer.
“We’ve taken preventative action and have given vaccinations to the animals. It’s better to spend €11 now, rather than spending €60 to get the vet out later.
"The slurry is filling up. We did get some out, but it was the wrong time to be doing it with all the rainfall,” he said.
The farmer said that he bought a couple of extra silage bales “just to be on the safe side”.
He is lucky that he is not seeing a shortage of fodder yet. However, he needs to see that land drying off first.
“We would like to get the animals out, but it would be unfair to the cows as well as the ground to let them out yet,” he said.
The farmer would like to see the River Suck dredged. He understands that it would be up to the environmental bodies, but he would like to see it done sooner rather than later.
“The silt is piling up in the river. It used to be that you would have water on your land for two days and then it would be gone. It’s never been this high and this stagnant for this long,” he said.
Read more
This week in photos: farming faces behind the floods
IFA vows to fight any policy to deliberately flood farmland
10 tips for driving machinery in flooded conditions
The extent of the flooding in western counties has become more apparent in the wake of storm Jorge.
Acres of farmland remain underwater in many counties, the highest levels since 2010.
Tom Lane of IFA Clare said: “I’m at Parteen, close to Limerick city, and the water is up really high all week.
"It has been high on the other side of the Ardnacrusha hydro station, by Cloonlara, all week as well. They are letting off 440 cubic litres per second at Parteen Weir, that has been increased since yesterday.
"It gets released up the canal to the hydro station. The station can take 385 to 400 cubic litres/second, and that’s running at full tilt at the moment.”
Farmers on the ground
Nearby, on a farm in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, a suckler farmer who did not want to be named, said that he has about 30 acres of farmland underwater.
“The flood is up more this year over any other year, but it’s actually a bit more manageable. The way the flood is lying, it’s lying across the land more and it’s stagnant, rather than a rush flooding,” he said.
There’s neighbours up the road and it’s in their sheds
“We’re not in the worst situation that ever there was, there’s neighbours up the road and it’s in their sheds. The water was slow rising this year, so we were better able to manage the consequences,” he said.
The farmer said that they get some flooding every year, but this is the latest month that it has ever happened, and also the second-highest flood that he has seen. The worst came in 2010.
“I would have seen water on the lower land before, but there’s even forestry down the road on higher ground and even that’s under water.”
Fodder
“All our cattle are in at the moment, there’s no stock out. It’s heavier type of soil around this part of the west, so we’re delaying. All the cows and calves are in, but it’s putting us on edge then because you’d be worried about scour and disease,” said the Galway farmer.
“We’ve taken preventative action and have given vaccinations to the animals. It’s better to spend €11 now, rather than spending €60 to get the vet out later.
"The slurry is filling up. We did get some out, but it was the wrong time to be doing it with all the rainfall,” he said.
The farmer said that he bought a couple of extra silage bales “just to be on the safe side”.
He is lucky that he is not seeing a shortage of fodder yet. However, he needs to see that land drying off first.
“We would like to get the animals out, but it would be unfair to the cows as well as the ground to let them out yet,” he said.
The farmer would like to see the River Suck dredged. He understands that it would be up to the environmental bodies, but he would like to see it done sooner rather than later.
“The silt is piling up in the river. It used to be that you would have water on your land for two days and then it would be gone. It’s never been this high and this stagnant for this long,” he said.
Read more
This week in photos: farming faces behind the floods
IFA vows to fight any policy to deliberately flood farmland
10 tips for driving machinery in flooded conditions
SHARING OPTIONS