Almost 70% of farmers nationwide have identified a fodder shortage on their farm, the Irish Farmers Journal Red C poll has found.

Farmers with mixed grazing livestock (61%) or specialist sheep farms (53%) were less likely to have experienced a shortage than other farm types, but 79% of dairy farmers reported that they were short of fodder.

Of this figure, 43% of dairy farmers said they are between 11% and 30% short of fodder.

Some 69% of suckler farmers and 70% of specialist cattle farmers also said they had a shortage of fodder.

Overcoming the shortfall

In order to combat fodder shortfalls, 22% of those who said they were short of fodder opted to buy in additional fodder supplies. It was the most common measure farmers took to try and combat a shortfall, followed by reducing stock numbers or cutting more silage, where possible.

Dairy farmers were significantly more likely to buy in additional fodder stocks to try to reduce the shortfall identified, with 31% reporting they bought in fodder.

Specialist cattle farmers were more likely to reduce stock numbers (22%) than buy in extra fodder (14%).

Drought conditions were most severe in the east of the country, where there is a higher number of dairy farms compared with the west, which corresponds to dairy farmers buying in more fodder as grass growth was non-existent in parts for silage-making. In contrast, the survey showed that while dairy farmers bought in more fodder, suckler farmers (18%) who on the whole were less affected by the drought, the majority of which are based in the west and northwest, made more silage during the drought period.

The survey also identified that 19% of farmers farming over 60ha planted catch crops to deal with the shortage.

Despite almost 70% of farmers saying they were short of fodder, one in five took no additional steps to combat the shortage.