This is a subscriber-only article
Over 50mm of rain fell on Tuesday night in Mountmellick, Co Laois, which resulted in one dairy farmer’s weanlings being stranded on an island in a field.
Bernard Rochford farms in a family partnership and ended up with 60 weanlings being stranded on Wednesday evening as a result of the heavy rain.
“We move them daily and I moved them on Wednesday morning. There was some water there on Wednesday morning but not so much that would worry us. The water just [kept rising then.]
“The weather over the last couple of days has been chaos, it all coming so quickly is the biggest thing.
“The level of the water is nearly at the highest on record; around 1979 I think was when it was this high.”
Rochford said he let down the strip-grazing wire to allow the weanlings on to the remaining drier land on the bank.
“They’re caught there for the day. Hopefully, it will be down by Friday. I don’t think you’d be able to run them through it. I’m 6ft 2in and it was up to my hips, nearly 3ft at the highest part.”
SHARING OPTIONS: