In excess of 500 suppliers are set to benefit from fodder imported from the UK by early this week, according to the head of sales and marketing at Dairygold Agribusiness, Seamus O’Mahony.
The first shipments of fodder organised by Dairygold arrived on Irish shores on Thursday, April 5. Trailer loads of fodder have continued to arrive on a daily basis over the weekend and into the beginning of this week.
Since then, it has been all hands on deck in order to get this fodder moved on to the farmers that needed it the most, O’Mahony told AgriLand.
Commenting on the situation, O’Mahony said: “The demand is in particular locations and we are allocating loads as orders come in; it’s like the loaves and the fishes.
“A load of fodder could land in a co-op at 10:30am and be distributed to farmers by 11:30am.”
O’Mahony wished to acknowledge the efforts of all Dairygold staff across its branch network who have put in long hours to get through the extensive workload that is entailed with distributing this imported fodder.
Everybody is helping out; some of our branch people have come in during their time off to lend a hand. We would also like to thank local farmers as well who have helped to unload bales at our co-ops.
Meanwhile, O’Mahony indicated that a decision would be made this week as to whether further imports of fodder would be required.
Fodder register
As well as this, Herdwatch – the farm management app – has also recently launched its own fodder register to assist farmers facing a shortage of fodder.
A special website page where farmers can advertise that they have extra fodder to sell or that they need additional supplies has been set up.
The page promises to be updated daily. As it stands, the amount of people looking to buy fodder outnumbers the proportion of farmers with fodder to sell by over 15 to one.