Cash flow and fodder supplies are two of the biggest concerns currently on dairy farms, according to the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) Dairy committee chair.
Stephen Arthur told Agriland that the early housing of cows by up to 8 weeks in some parts of the country has “decimated” silage stocks.
“There’s a lot of farmers now really, really anxious and worried over fodder supplies,” he said.
Arthur said that there seems to be a “strain on fodder” in parts of the midlands, while supplies are stronger in the west and southwest.
“On a lot of farms cows were dried off early this year or didn’t perform. A lot of farmers I was talking to said lactose plummeted once they hit the silage.
“Protein, fats, lactose, everything just went to the floor so a lot of farmers were just forced to dry them off early because the milk prices were bad and you weren’t getting a good return on your kilo of fodder or kilo concentrates gone in.
“There was mathematics done fairly quickly, it was cheaper to dry the cows off and take your hit,” he said.
Cash flow
After taking calls from farmers and speaking IFA county chairs, Arthur said that cash flow is becoming a huge issue for some farms.
“There is a lot of stress out there and a lot of anxiety among farmers at the moment on the ground.
“A lot of people are undecided where they’re going for the future. It’s such a contrast to a year ago,” he said.
The IFA chair said that the high cost of energy is placing a particular strain on dairy farmers.
“Every second farmer you’re talking to is talking about their ESB bills at the moment. I even see the one that came in here the day before Christmas Eve. It would sicken you, it would put you on your back when you see the size of it,” he said.
“What we would be saying to farmer is if you foresee a problem go and make contact with the banks. We met the banks before Christmas and that’s what they’re saying to us, talk to us early.
“Dairy is resilient and it has the capacity to pull itself around once things get going again.
“So I’d have no fear with the banks and dairy farming, but go to the banks early, don’t wait until the problem is on top of you before you go look for help,” Arthur added.
Markets
Arthur said that the hope is now for an early spring so cows can get back to grass as soon as possible.
He added that there are better signals coming from the global dairy markets for 2024.
“The milk markets look like they are strengthening up. The Ornua PPI today was returning 37c/L. Lakeland rose the milk price by 1.5c/L.
“There’s positives out there too and that gives people a bit of heart when they’re starting to calve cows. It looks like we could be milking into a buying season this year, but it’s all about the grass, it’s all about the spring.
“Look at last year, the grass didn’t grow when we wanted it to, the weather was difficult and a lot of farmer’s outputs were down. We’d be hoping to regain that this year,” the IFA chair said.