The drought situation in the UK has been a big issue for farmers across the Irish Sea, and UK breeders at the Tullamore Show shared some of their concerns for the winter.

“People are having to buy silage and straw in already and feed hay and silage out to the cattle in fields, so everyone is going to be short over in the UK as well,” Philip Vincent, a pedigree Hereford breeder from the Pulham herd in Norfolk, told the Irish Farmers Journal.

“It’s a big worry and people are selling cattle just to reduce on numbers to try to save on money that they’re having to spend, so I think next year there could be a beef shortage in England,” Vincent said.

“It’s both sides, beef and dairy, so anything they don’t feel is good enough they’re just getting rid of. Rather than trying to get them back into calf they’re just moving them on straight away because the costs are just too high.”

Ireland imported 18,000t of fodder during the spring crisis this year, a large amount of which came from England.

However, if Ireland needs to import fodder again it is unlikely that England will be able to satisfy all of the demand.

“We’re in East Anglia and a lot of farmers are baling straw and sending it over, so there will probably be straw available,” Vincent said.

“I’m having to buy silage and hay in myself, so I think with silage and hay we’ll definitely be short but straw should be OK. It can still come across.”

Brexit

Another concern for UK farmers is Brexit, with a recent drop in sterling already having an effect on trade.

“We’ve had two years to sort Brexit out and now we’ve got just six months and we’re no further forward really,” Robert Norman of the Hickling Herefords, also based in Norfolk said.

“We’ll still be coming over to Tullamore [Show] every year and if we like something we’ll be bringing it home.

“I think it’s importing lower welfare, cheaper produce that’s our biggest concern.

“We’ve got extremely good high-welfare standards in the UK and we don’t want to be opening the floodgates to lower-welfare, lower-priced stuff to bring our stuff down.”