Recent Dry Spell Sees Some Farmers Secure Early Fodder
While conditions may have turned colder, the warm dry-spell over the past week saw farmers in many parts of the country opt to secure a few early bales of silage.
The relatively mild winter resulted in good grass-growth rates for the time of year. When it came to letting livestock out to grass, some farmers felt grass covers on their best paddocks had become too strong for grazing.
With concerns among farmers surrounding feed availability next winter as a result of sky-high fertiliser prices, as well as virtually all other input costs rising, securing a good quantity of fodder for the coming winter has become a top priority on many Irish farms.
Many farmers have noticed heavy covers of grass on their silage ground this spring and found conditions in early spring too tricky to graze this grass off.
When temperatures rose last week and ground conditions improved, these farmers felt the best option was to clean-off land with heavy grass covers by cutting and baling it.
Shay Fitzpatrick, an agri-contractor in Athlone said that he has been out on farms making round-bale silage for farmers “looking to clear grass off silage ground”.
He noted covers are relatively light at 3-4 bales to the acre, but added that grass was baled “fairly dry and bales will not reduce much”.
Commenting on the rising contractor costs, Shay noted that he will “have to fully assess” how much costs will be increasing by, but noted round-bale silage “will definitely be increasing by at least €2-€3/bale anyways”.
