Farmland across the southeast and east has been left in a quagmire after storm Chandra dumped 50mm of rain on the region in a 24-hour period.
Most of the major rivers in south Leinster burst their banks as a result of the storm, with flooding along the Nore, Barrow and Slaney – and their tributaries – as well as on the Aughrim and Avoca rivers in Wicklow.
In excess of 160mm of rain has fallen in some parts of the southeast over the last 10 days, and this has left ground totally saturated.
While most farmers have plenty of fodder, there is growing concern that slurry tanks are filling fast, and with ground conditions preventing spreading, storage capacity is becoming a real worry.
“There is an awful lot of flooded or partially flooded land down here. Winter crops are after getting an awful hammering, and slurry tanks are filling fast,” said Wexford IFA chair Tom Doyle.
Similar fears on slurry were expressed by Kilkenny IFA chair Brendan Hickey.
The Nore has flooded large tracts of land above and below Kilkenny city, but the primary concern for farmers was slurry.
“There is a pinch point coming on the slurry,” Hickey said.
Although the vast majority of farmyards escaped the floods, beef and tillage farmers Julian and Winston Ashmore were not that lucky.
The Ashmores’ farm along the banks of the Slaney outside Ferns, Co Wexford, and flood waters from the river inundated the farmyard on Tuesday.
The yard was under 18 inches of water at one stage on Tuesday, with some straw-bedded livestock sheds hit during the height of the flood.
The flooding was more severe along the river bank, with some fields under three to four feet of water.
While Julian described the experience as “frightening” and an “inconvenience” – and stressful for the stock in the shed – he said there was no great damage done.
The forecast for the coming week, is for conditions to remain broken.
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