Donal Kelleher, Glanmire, Co Cork

“We’ve been feeding silage seven weeks this Friday. We’ve eaten our reserves and have been using our first cut for two weeks now. And we’ll be using it for another two weeks. We harvested barley for wholecrop on Tuesday this week and I’d say there wasn’t half a silage trailer per acre, it’s frightening. Complete disaster. If there is no rise in beef or milk prices there is going to be a crisis. A famine is what we are facing.”

Dan McAuliffe, Co Cork

“It’s getting scary enough. The pit is being fed, there’s only half the fodder that should be there. The second cut was made four weeks ago and that’s nearly all been fed. We’ve ground closed for a third cut, with fertiliser and slurry out on it. It’s growing away but it’s sluggish.

“We all said when we got out past May we were on the home straight. We definitely took three steps forward but we’re five steps back now.”

John Curran, Co Meath

“In north Meath rain came last weekend and the place greened a bit but grass has not improved a lot in the short term anyway. We’ve been feeding out for the last three weeks. I’m trying to save the silage ground to get it cut in a month or so. Every little bit is going to be worth a lot. Once they eat it off now it’s not going to come back as strong. August was never a great month for growth anyway.”