The wind howls in the chimney, gathering momentum as it whips noisily around the house. The heating struggles to keep the living room warm. Wet washing hangs on the clothes horse in the back kitchen.
I open the patio door to let the dog out to do his business before retiring to bed. The wind rushes in, catching the curtain. I give him a gentle push and he flies out. Two seconds later he is back – drenched. I take the towel and dry him off. I think of the cows faced into the ditch, trying to avail of the meagre shelter provided by the still bare trees. It could be January or November but instead it is the middle of April. There has been no spring. Instead, winter continues unabated.
Farmers are irate, fed up and frustrated with the weather. Coping strategies are running out along with the fodder, but is there any point in attacking the minister for agriculture? What is to be gained by going on about how he should have started to put schemes in place sooner and sourced fodder heretofore? Didn’t everyone think that a reprieve was just around the corner and that spring would come and the grass would grow?
Now the fodder scheme is in place, let’s focus on the distribution. I have to admit I was extremely proud that our co-op Dairygold was first out of the traps with the importation of the fodder. Well done for the foresight and getting the ball rolling. This depth of crisis is unprecedented.
Farmers are very caring, so if you are feeling alone or struggling, talk to a neighbour and let your farm organisation know your plight. If you are uncomfortable with that, talk to the co-op or your Teagasc adviser. There is no shame in running out of fodder. We are dealing with these conditions since last August.
Two weeks ago, Tim and I did a grass walk and we were sure that the growth would come. It is now growing slowly and this period will end just as it did in 2013. Now that fodder is landing in all parts of the country, farming families will be able to focus on caring for the animals.
COUNTRYWIDE CRISIS
In 2002, I remember we donated silage to help farmers in trouble in the west of Ireland. Tim was IFA county chair at the time and deeply involved in the organisation of the fodder relief.
Locally, my late father-in-law Denis used his lorry to transport the silage to north Cork. He loved the trips – there was a good feeling about helping farmers in other areas.
I have a picture from that time that was in the Irish Farmers Journal of Tim, Sean Clarke from the Cork IFA office and then IFA president John Dillon. The three men are in a waterlogged field with muck coming half way up their wellingtons. We are well back there again, only this time the crisis is countrywide and very frightening for the farming community.
Last week I travelled around the country for the Women and Agriculture Awards. I also visited our friends in Roscommon. I drove through rain and sleet. I was quite shocked at the state of the countryside. Fields are seriously waterlogged and the grass looks more like what you would see in October. There’s no lush green fields. The colour is wrong and the countryside smell is untypical for this time of year. There are very few herds of cows out.
As I drove north through Tipperary, I passed several farmers with jeeps and boxes carrying animals. I saw one farmer unloading a suckler cow and her calf into the front lawn. At least there was a pick of grass there for a day or two.
I saw tractors and trailers with half loads of silage in the back. Small amounts of fodder were on the move to keep animals fed as neighbours tried to help each other. The upshot of this generosity is that we are all running out together. Reports indicated that this week would exhaust the fodder on farms.
In Roscommon, I saw a lovely group of Simmental X animals in a field where the ground was blackened. The farmer was drawing them fodder because they were well fed and in good condition. I particularly noticed them because they were the only animals around for miles. There was a scattering of sheep with their lambs, picking what they could in bare fields. It is shocking.
TALK TO SOMEONE
I made several phone calls on my travels to see how my friends were coping. It was a common story of stuck in the muck; no grass, the minimum amount of animals out on the land and struggling with fodder provision. Bedding was a huge problem too, with no straw around. This makes calving and lambing environments very challenging.
One farmer blamed me. He said I was looking for rain last July as we were in a drought situation. He said that I got my wish and it hadn’t stopped raining since but could I stop the rain now!
It is this sense of humour that will keep us going. It is important to keep our hearts up. This will pass. Do talk to your neighbours. Find out how they are coping and help out if you can. A simple phone call and the knowledge that you are not alone can help you to endure the hardship. One day at a time and we will manage ourselves out of this. CL