The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is being called on to extend the date by which silage must be harvested under the Fodder Support Scheme.
The Association of Farm and Forestry Contractors in Ireland (FCI) has called for the final date for harvesting to be extended from September 5 to September 30, due to poor grass growth arising from “near drought conditions”.
“Our FCI contractor members have identified that many farmers have delayed their silage and hay cutting as long as possible, in the hope of sufficient grass growth,” said FCI national chairperson John Hughes.
“Grass growth has been static on many of these farms over the past six weeks.
“These farmers are now facing a situation where they are being forced to request their farm contractor to cut grass crops for silage or hay under the terms of the Fodder Support Scheme that are not economical due to poor yield returns at this time,” according to Hughes.
He noted that Met Éireann is predicting significant rainfall over the weekend for much of the country, which should lead to improved growth and make harvesting silage and hay more economically viable.
However, Hughes said that this would be too late for many farmers, as harvesting must be completed by early next week.
Contractors are experiencing an economical blowback from this situation, at a time when input costs have already seen contactors’ expenses rise significantly this summer.
“Contractors are also coming under increasing pressure from farmers to complete this work to meet the September 5, deadline,” the FCI chair said.
“The urgency created by poor growing conditions as farmers have pushed back the harvesting dates in the hope of additional grass growth has created some additional health and safety risks on farms that can be avoided by extension of the harvesting closing date,” he argued.
Hughes also highlighted that some farmers have already depleted their stocks of bale and pit silage in recent weeks as grass growth for grazing animals has been restricted.
“These farmers are facing an additional fodder crisis that was unexpected at the time of the creation of the National Fodder Security Committee,” he said.