This week’s cold snap will be warmly welcomed by tillage farmers and cereal growers around the country, as it will arrest growth within all winter crops.
“The vast majority of crops have entered the new year with full covers and are looking tremendously well,” confirmed Teagasc tillage specialist, Shay Phelan.
“But further mild weather would only serve to encourage additional tillering, which would be very unproductive at this stage.
“Crops turning yellow is a sign that this process is already happening.
“The preferred scenario moving forward would be for the temperatures to come back to normal values, which would allow cereal crops to go into a state of dormancy until late February or early March.”
Fear of heavy rain would be another weather-related concern on the minds of cereal growers at the present time.
Shay Phelan continued: “We have had a relatively dry winter up to this point. And nature has a habit of balancing itself.
“Heavy rain and subsequent flooding could do a lot of damage to winter cereals, should such a scenario unfold.”
Actions for tillage farmers
There are a number of simple actions tillage farmers can take to help alleviate surface flooding. These include checking that land drains are flowing into ditches unimpeded and checking that drain outlets are not blocked with debris such as branches and leaves.
Winter barley is more sensitive to water logging than wheat. Where winter barley is under water for more than a couple of days, it is likely to be severely impacted. In such instances yields can be reduced by 50%.
Data published by Met Éireann confirmed that November 2021 was an extremely dry month. Rainfall levels measured at Johnstown Castle; Athenry; Moorepark; and Grange were: 27.9; 78.9; 33.4; and 30.2mm respectively.
These figures are between 50% and 66% lower than would normally be expected for that period of the year.
December 2021 rainfall levels are more in line with the figures that would normally be expected for the first winter month.
According to Met Éireann, this week will see high pressure slowly building with the only exception of a few troughs moving over the country bringing some spells of unsettled weather.
It will, however, be mostly settled during the week and temperatures will be slightly above average, however there will be one or two frosty nights ahead. It will stay a little drier in the southeast but slightly wetter than average along the west and north.
Outlook for January
The second week of January will see higher pressure again dominating the weather. It will be slightly drier in the south of the country.
During week three of the month, the high pressure dominance will slowly subside. Temperatures will fall back to average, but it will start to get wetter again especially for areas in the northern half of the country as the weakening of the high allows for more unsettled weather at times.
Looking out towards week four of January, the area of high pressure will continue to move south with the northern half of the country seeing more unsettled weather at times.
It will be wetter than average for most of the country, although temperatures will remain around average.