Some 7% of farmers who responded to a Teagasc survey said they have no silage left.

Of the 784 farmers who answered the survey, 57 said they had zero days’ worth of silage left.

Almost half of the farmers who responded to the survey do not have enough silage to feed stock for the next three weeks.

Some 29% of respondents said they have enough silage to feed their stock for 10 days or less.

Progress

Of those who answered the survey and had cattle, 77% said they were not out at grass.

Some 89% of respondents had not spread any fertiliser this year.

Slurry storage was becoming an issue for 66% of those who answered the advisory body’s survey.

Bales of silage were costing between €30 and €40 in the local area of 44% of respondents, while 35% said they were buying in silage.

The survey was circulated to Teagasc clients via text message in recent days.

The survey results were presented at a meeting of the National Fodder and Food Security Committee last week.

Dairy

A further survey was conducted among 58 Teagasc dairy advisers based on current feedback from clients.

It found that 47% of dairy farms were fully housed. Almost half of dairy farms were grazing by day and 4% were at grass day and night.

Some 39% of dairy farms had little to no grazing done, while 51% were behind but managing and 10% were on target.

Advisers responded that 58% of dairy farms had spread some fertiliser and slurry to date, with 35% having just spread slurry and 7% having spread neither.

The survey also found that 10% of farms had no silage available to buy locally and 66% had a limited amount of silage available to purchase in their locality.

Some 7% of advisers had more than a quarter of their clients out of silage.

Advisers in Waterford, Kilkenny and Wexford reported having more clients out of silage than any other area of the country.