Stephen Robb

Newtowncunningham, Co Donegal

For the tillage young farmer of the year Stephen Robb, this year’s weather was particularly bad on his farm in north Donegal. During the disastrous harvest MEP Mairead McGuinness visited his farm to witness firsthand the havoc wreaked by incessant summer rain.

“2016 will be remembered as one of the most challenging years to date for farmers here in the northwest with arguably the last comparable year being 1985,” said Robb. “The year got off to a wet start with consistent rain and poor ground conditions experienced from January through to March, leaving little opportunity to harvest the remainder of 2015’s potato crop. The weather settled in early April allowing for spring drilling as well as winter cereal management operations to be begin. We received our summer in the form of two weeks of great weather at the end of May into June. It went downhill from there. With July came the start of the wet summer which would plague our harvest from start to finish.”

“Having cut the first of our winter barley on 24 July, no one could have known it was going to take five weeks to finish harvesting the crop. September failed to give us the letup we needed, with the rain playing havoc on spring cereals, the financial effects of which are still being felt today. October 1 marked the end of monsoon season and mercifully brought a settled spell that allowed us to salvage what was left of the spring barley and spring oats.”

September failed to give us the letup we needed, with the rain playing havoc on spring cereals, the financial effects of which are still being felt today

“While winter acreage on our farm is down from last year, established crops are looking reasonable. November has allowed us to progress with the potato harvest in relatively good conditions and we’re on track to finish by the end of the week.”

Kieran McDermott

Clones, Co Monaghan

Just one mile from the border with Northern Ireland, the Brexit referendum is probably the first thing dairy farmer Kieran McDermott will remember when he thinks of 2016. However, despite a wet start to the year in Clones, Co Monaghan, he said it was a mixed year overall, taking a turn for the better when the grazing season started in early February.

“An abundance of grass on the farm as a result of the mild winter allowed cows to graze full-time by mid-March and take a bit of pressure off things around the yard,” McDermott said. “A return to wetter conditions in April lead to cows being rehoused by night for a short period. More favourable weather conditions prevailed in May, giving the opportunity to make some excellent quality silage.”

He was happy to get plenty of surplus silage bales made with the excellent grass growth in June and July but keeping grass from going to seed was a challenge, making milk solids lag behind 2015.

All in all it was a mixed year weather-wise but we managed our way through it fairly well

“The rain returned in September making grazing a real challenging and it also hampered the farm’s ability to build up grass for the autumn. Plenty of stock was housed in the area in early October as a result,” he said, adding that better weather at the back end allowed him to keep heifers and calves out on grass until the end of November.

“All in all it was a mixed year weather-wise but we managed our way through it fairly well. All that can be done now is to look forward to 2017 with optimism and positivity. Hopefully it will bring good weather and more importantly better prices.”

John Buckley

Bantry, Co Cork

When the heavy rain hit towards the end of September on John Buckley’s farm in Aughaville in west Cork it made grazing conditions very tough. However, overall he said the year averaged out pretty well.

“It was an average year really. The spring was late, cold and wet which put us under a lot of pressure grass wise and we were using a lot of feed at the time,” Buckley said. “But the summer worked out grand and we managed to get the silage in in good condition and in good time.”

He was disappointed with a DMD of 66 in the first cut of silage but put it down to older grasses.

Out of nowhere it turned into the best autumn I’ve ever seen

“September was an absolute disaster, cows went back in yield quite a bit,” Buckley said. His farm received 20in of rain between the first of July and the end of September, 3in fell in just 36 hours towards the end of September which really affected the farm. “There was more poaching of paddocks in September than there was in November. Out of nowhere it turned into the best autumn I’ve ever seen despite the heavy rain in September.”

With an exceptional amount of lime spread in the area this autumn, Buckley said that “we’re set up for grazing at the start of 2017”.

Flooding

For many the effects of flooding over the winter of 2015/2016 will be what is remembered most with numerous farmers left counting the cost. During the crisis a fodder aid scheme was made available to farmers who lost feed due to water damage. The Government established a €10m humanitarian fund as well as a further €5m to be administered by the Red Cross on behalf of the Government to aid small businesses that suffered damage to their property

“Traffic driving by was sending waves through the water and my house is ruined now,” drystock farmer Paddy Towey from Banagher, Co Offaly, told the Irish Farmers Journal at the time. “Something needs to be done to prevent this happening in the future. The way I look at it, these people that are in authority live on high ground and have no consideration for others.”

The national emergency led to the establishment of the Shannon Flood Risk State Agency working group which is led by the OPW. With a number of opposing voices around that table there was little hope it would achieve much to prevent such a flood being repeated. However, in recent weeks it emerged that the group has agreed in principle to introduce a Shannon maintenance programme that should alleviate flood risk for the greater Shannon catchment.