The slurry spreading season opened last week for farmers in Zones A and B, but the ground still remains too wet for many.

Slurry contractor John Fitzgerald from Limerick told the Irish Farmers Journal that the ground around him was "not travelable".

"It's not brilliant, by no means. I'd usually be flat out around this time of the year but the ground is not travelable," he said.

John disagrees with the closed period for slurry spreading, saying the weather has affected farmers badly.

"The slurry ban is a joke. It's not good enough," he continued. "When weather conditions were good to spread we weren't allowed, and now we can't do a thing after the rain and the flooding.

"There's still bills to be paid. I'm hoping we get a bit of hard frost to dry it up," he said.

Holding off until February

In Westmeath, David Henson is trying to drop tanks at the minute. The slurry contractor said that "nothing hectic was happening now" in terms of spreading.

Meanwhile, in Galway, contractor Martin Skeehan is spreading on a small bit of dry land at the moment, but the vast majority, he says, is not fit for purpose.

"I reckon the vast majority of the ground will have to hold off until February or March. It isn't great at all," he told the Irish Farmers Journal.

The slurry spreading and fertiliser seasons opened last Wednesday 13 January in Zone A counties (Dublin, Wicklow, Wexford, Kilkenny, Carlow, Cork, Tipperary, Waterford, Laois, Offaly and Kildare), and in Zone B (counties Longford, Westmeath, Meath, Louth, Roscommon, Mayo, Galway, Limerick, Clare, Kerry and Sligo) on Saturday.

In remaining counties, and in Northern Ireland, spreading can start on 1 February.

For the weekend, Met Éireann predicts mild weather with some rain and wind at times but frost is unlikely.

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