Following heavy rains last week, some mostly dry days have seen land start to soak out. Intense rains on Friday saw flooding, with over 3in of rain in Clare and Limerick in less than 24 hours. Much stock has been housed.

Cattle that are housed may return to grass, but soaked land and slow grass growth now mean earlier than normal housing is inevitable.

In advance of the break in weather, any remaining silage to be harvested was baled. While good volumes of forage have been saved, feeding has begun for many herds, and an early winter will test forage reserves. Farmers who need to feed are being advised to consider farm-to-farm purchases.

The good news is that the current forecast for next week’s Ploughing Championships is for mainly dry weather. Conditions on the site are curently good.

This week has been better, but a lot of work remains to be done.

While parts of the country are effectively finished harvesting all but beans, significant amounts of spring corn are still to be cut, particularly in Donegal, where little progress has been made.

In Athy, a problem has emerged with malting barley. Significant quantities of the Taberna and Propino variety have been rejected for malting due to the grain shedding its skin. A number of growers protested in Boortmalt on Wednesday on this and related issues.

Green cover

The weather has also held up work establishing green cover.

IFA Grain chairman Liam Dunne has warned the nearly 200 farmers who have signed up for green cover either to fulfil crop diversification (two and three crop rule) and the EFA for greening need to ensure they comply with their commitments.

The deadline to have established green cover was 15 September. Farmers prevented by weather and ground conditions from meeting that date can avail of a derogation, but must personally apply in advance for that derogation.

As of Tuesday evening, only two people had done so. There is the option of amending the Basic Payment application to remove the green cover requirement where enough EFA otherwise exists, but this must be done prior to inspection.