Credit where it’s due or credit where it’s badly needed at the very least with the latest scheme for Glanbia milk suppliers.

The extended credit scheme allows qualifying milk suppliers to purchase inputs over the next two months and spread the payments over the next two years. It’s badly needed at this time with most current accounts and trading accounts heading into an uncomfortable position after the double hit of the tough spring and the drought this summer. It allows Glanbia suppliers to buy in extra quantities of feedstuffs and fertiliser if rain comes to help to push available silage stocks out into the winter.

Offset payments

Overall trading account credit limits will still be in place, but this scheme will allow farmers who are feeding heavily again through the summer to offset the payments to the middle of 2019 and 2020 when things will hopefully be moving back closer to normal.

The Glanbia region is particularly badly hit by this drought with the sunny southeast living up to its name very early this year and many farmers feeding heavily for over six weeks now. It is getting more widespread every day, however, which is particularly worrying, and we are told that there is already a shortfall of 30% of the winter feed needed this year and the lack of rain is increasing this percentage.

It is imperative that we act early to stretch out every available bit of silage

We are probably in the situation now where we will eat more silage than we will make for the rest of this year. Factories are bursting at the seams, so a mass cull of cows will not be possible before the winter. It is imperative that we act early to stretch out every available bit of silage as much as possible between now and April and put a plan in place to survive the cost.

Soya hulls affordable

Soya hulls seem to be most available and the most affordable feed of choice for most farms. It is a safe feed that can be mixed with a forage or fed straight in amounts up to 6kg per day. In a lot of cases, farmers are moving towards diets of 10kg plus of concentrates with silage, hay or straw to keep cows’ stomachs right. Grass is a non-event or a bonus in most cases with cows going out reasonably full to pick over the few dry stalks that they find here and there.

We will try to cull cows early and hard, if possible, this autumn at home but there is a glut of underweight and unfinished cows on the market, which will take up time and space in the factories and this is killing the market for better-quality beef and dairy stock out there.

Costly diet

If we are struggling to get a good price for our cows on the hoof, we might finish them on almost ad-lib concentrate and straw but with some herds this option might not be viable. Again, on the home front the cows are continuing to milk exceptionally well on their costly diet.

We are trending back up towards 2kg of milk solids per cow again in July as yield holds and percentages increase. Fertility seems good still with the bulls out three weeks but the scan in two weeks’ time will tell the full picture.

The in-calf heifers are doing very well on soya hulls and silage, but we may need to pull out some light heifer calves early and maybe even put them back in the shed on concentrates and hay to keep them moving forward.

It’s the perfect storm weather-wise this year, though maybe milk price and acting early on events might pull us through and hopefully the wells on the farm keep flowing.