Many farmers are facing increased feed and contractor bills as the delayed spring adds financial pressure on farms.
“Demand is falling off a bit but we’re still well ahead of last year,” John Grennan of Grennan’s Feeds said.
“People would have run up bigger bills over the spring than they normally would have.
“Feed mills are not in as secure a position as the co-ops who can count on the milk cheque but we try to facilitate customers.”
In some cases, farmers have been supplementing fodder reserves with meal for over a month, with the Irish Farmer Journal estimating that the weekly combined cost of meal, fodder and lost output costs between €23 and €35/cow.
Cashflow
“Obviously, cashflow is important to us but we’re monitoring it on a case-by-case basis and we haven’t refused anyone credit to date,” James Brett of Brett Brothers Feeds said.
Banks are urging farmers to raise cashflow issues so that they can facilitate adjusted budgets.
“Farmers have said there will be increased feed bills due to the long spring and we’ve had a number of dairy farmers tell us that due to the April milk cheque expected to go down, that will have an impact on June cashflow,” a spokesperson for Ulster Bank said.
Banks and credit unions facilitated farmer need for financial support during the spring, and reported that demand was relatively low, but the real financial hit may emerge in the summer months when bills are issued. In many cases, fodder reserves have also been depleted and there will be increased costs to building up reserves this year.
“People are going to want to grow more silage after this crisis, but there’s a cashflow cost to paying for that silage and getting it cut,” Philip O’Connor, head of agriculture at IFAC, said.
“In the last fodder crisis in 2013, there were fewer farmers with large financial commitments.
‘‘If the sums don’t add up you need to go to the bank early to highlight the issue.”
