Farmers in parts of Co Mayo are having grass and silage crops eaten by deer.

Martin Garry, a dairy and beef farmer, told the Irish Farmers Journal this week that the deer problem has grown over the last 25 years and now numbers are reaching into the thousands.

“They’re in Partry, in Ballinrobe, along the shores of Lough Mask and into Tourmakeady.

“What we find is we could put animals out in March 25 years ago to graze comfortably. Now it’s the end of April before we can put them out comfortably.

“The deer eat the grass over the winter. We’re losing a month’s grazing in the early part of the year and silage yields down as a result too. We’re losing a few tonnes of silage overall,” he said.

John Hession is a suckler beef farmer and breeds polled Simmentals in Partry. He believes the deer numbers are overwhelming.

“The early grazing season is affected. It’s late April before I get cattle out and I can’t cut meadows until July.

“They destroy fencing and even in the later season, they’ll knock parts of the wall. I have to be careful with the mower. I’m always short of silage. I bought another farm 16 miles away – 42ac. I keep it for silage ground and let cattle graze the aftergrass. I then have to draw it back to the home farm,” he said.

Control

Farmers in the area want the numbers controlled and the season extended. Specifically, they are looking for a pilot scheme to be rolled out which would see at least the months of March and April included in the hunting season. The season currently finishes at the end of February.

Mayo IFA chair Martin Gilvarry said that 60 farmers recently attended a meeting in Partry on the issue. “The population has exploded,” he told the Irish Farmers Journal.

His comments were echoed by Tourmakeady farmer and Connacht IFA chair Padraic Joyce, who said the deer have caused accidents on the Castlebar to Galway road, the N84.

“They’re multiplying all the time. Farmers want a proper cull,” he said.

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