Heavy rain over the weekend and early part of the week saw ground conditions deteriorate significantly in the northwest.
Intense rainfall of up to 40mm soaked fields and pushed many cattle indoors, hastening the winter period for some.
The Irish Farmers Journal spoke to farmers to find out how their farms handled the broken conditions.
Farmer views
Tillage farmer,
Limavady, Co Derry
“We’ve had three inches of rain over the past three days so the ground has gone very heavy.
“On the plus, we are able to dig carrots this week. We have 200ac ploughed and ready for seed but the ground is just too soft at the minute to access it.
“No sowing will be done now for a good while. We are hoping for a break in the weather in the coming days to give the land a chance to drain a bit and get back to work.”
Dairy, sheep and beef
farmer, Donemana, Co Tyrone
“We had serious rain all day Sunday. A lot of farmers in our area had to take livestock in.
“My dairy cows are indoors year round anyway but some of the sucklers were able to stay out grazing good heavy covers. In one field, in particular, the water had gathered, nearly forming a small lake in the middle.
“Anywhere that was previously trampled has pockets of water but in most places the heavy rain ran off the fields and got away quickly. We recently cut our hedges which led to scrub getting caught in grates, which didn’t help.”
Dairy farmer, Lifford, Co Donegal
“We got 54mm of rain here on Sunday so we’re picking our steps. The cows came in during the early hours of Sunday morning and were lying quite content with a good feed of silage.
“When they returned to grass on Sunday, it was pelting rain down on them for most of the day. Fortunately, a lot of that rain ran straight off, so most of the covers can still be grazed.
“The forecast seems to be mild enough but we are considering reducing the hours they spend out overnight.”
Suckler farmer, Castlebaldwin,
Co Sligo
“The weather broke here in Sligo on Sunday after what was a nice day on Saturday. We decided it best to take the cows in off the ground and keep them in the shed for a few days.
“We are using the time to wean the calves off the cows now that all are back in the shed. All’s going well so far. There hasn’t been too much of the roaring that you’d usually expect.
“The ground seems to have fared out OK with stock back to grass soon.”
Sheep and suckler farmer, Balla,
Co Mayo
“We only got the tail end of the rain here in Mayo it wasn’t too bad at all. The most notable result of Sunday’s weather is a rise in river levels.
“A lot of the land in these parts can’t take much rain so it was good the worst of it avoided us. We haven’t had to put stock in just yet,? but plenty of neighbouring farms have cattle housed.”
Suckler farmer, Tuam, Co Galway
“Luckily enough we avoided a lot the rain. I thought people might move livestock on account of the conditions on Monday morning, but as it turned out we were fine.
“It wasn’t as bad as forecast and we escaped the worst of it.
“The cattle turned up to Tuam Mart on Monday and the trade was good, even after all the doom and gloom it went well.”
Read more
Less rainfall and increased sunshine recorded in September
Winds up to 100km/h and heavy rain due on Sunday
Heavy rain over the weekend and early part of the week saw ground conditions deteriorate significantly in the northwest.
Intense rainfall of up to 40mm soaked fields and pushed many cattle indoors, hastening the winter period for some.
The Irish Farmers Journal spoke to farmers to find out how their farms handled the broken conditions.
Farmer views
Tillage farmer,
Limavady, Co Derry
“We’ve had three inches of rain over the past three days so the ground has gone very heavy.
“On the plus, we are able to dig carrots this week. We have 200ac ploughed and ready for seed but the ground is just too soft at the minute to access it.
“No sowing will be done now for a good while. We are hoping for a break in the weather in the coming days to give the land a chance to drain a bit and get back to work.”
Dairy, sheep and beef
farmer, Donemana, Co Tyrone
“We had serious rain all day Sunday. A lot of farmers in our area had to take livestock in.
“My dairy cows are indoors year round anyway but some of the sucklers were able to stay out grazing good heavy covers. In one field, in particular, the water had gathered, nearly forming a small lake in the middle.
“Anywhere that was previously trampled has pockets of water but in most places the heavy rain ran off the fields and got away quickly. We recently cut our hedges which led to scrub getting caught in grates, which didn’t help.”
Dairy farmer, Lifford, Co Donegal
“We got 54mm of rain here on Sunday so we’re picking our steps. The cows came in during the early hours of Sunday morning and were lying quite content with a good feed of silage.
“When they returned to grass on Sunday, it was pelting rain down on them for most of the day. Fortunately, a lot of that rain ran straight off, so most of the covers can still be grazed.
“The forecast seems to be mild enough but we are considering reducing the hours they spend out overnight.”
Suckler farmer, Castlebaldwin,
Co Sligo
“The weather broke here in Sligo on Sunday after what was a nice day on Saturday. We decided it best to take the cows in off the ground and keep them in the shed for a few days.
“We are using the time to wean the calves off the cows now that all are back in the shed. All’s going well so far. There hasn’t been too much of the roaring that you’d usually expect.
“The ground seems to have fared out OK with stock back to grass soon.”
Sheep and suckler farmer, Balla,
Co Mayo
“We only got the tail end of the rain here in Mayo it wasn’t too bad at all. The most notable result of Sunday’s weather is a rise in river levels.
“A lot of the land in these parts can’t take much rain so it was good the worst of it avoided us. We haven’t had to put stock in just yet,? but plenty of neighbouring farms have cattle housed.”
Suckler farmer, Tuam, Co Galway
“Luckily enough we avoided a lot the rain. I thought people might move livestock on account of the conditions on Monday morning, but as it turned out we were fine.
“It wasn’t as bad as forecast and we escaped the worst of it.
“The cattle turned up to Tuam Mart on Monday and the trade was good, even after all the doom and gloom it went well.”
Read more
Less rainfall and increased sunshine recorded in September
Winds up to 100km/h and heavy rain due on Sunday
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