Teagasc tillage specialist Shay Phelan has confirmed that the recent rain has brought field work to a halt in all parts of the country.

“There’s still a lot of spring feed and malting barley to be planted in many parts of the country,” he told Agriland. “And these crops do not like wet conditions.”

“In those parts of the country where heavy soils predominate, it could take a week’s decent weather to get soils back into proper conditions. For those farmers on lighter soils, four to five days might do the trick.

“But the bottom line is for each individual to make the judgement call that best suits their respective conditions.”

Tillage action

According to Phelan many crops of winter wheat, barley, oats and oilseed rape need nitrogen now.

“But, again, it’s a case now of waiting until ground conditions improve,” he commented.

The Teagasc representative is confident that the area of spring beans and peas grown in Ireland will be well up, relative to 2022.

“I would be disappointed if the combined areas of beans and peas did not come in at around 14,000ha this year; that’s up from the 2022 figure of 11,000ha,” he said.

“Beans are still a spring cropping option on heavier ground until the end of March. Once we get into April, the focus will switch to peas. However, these bring their own challenges.”

Teagasc is to host a series of spring crop walks for tillage farmers over the coming weeks. “The events will take place during the month of April. Final dates and venues have yet to be agreed,” Phelan continued.

“However, full information on what’s planed will be released over the coming days.”

Weather

Met Éireann is predicting more heavy rain across most of the country over the coming days.

Saturday will bring hazy spells of sunshine along with scattered showers. It will be cloudier in the south with a chance of rain moving into the southwest during the evening.

Highest temperatures will be in the range of 10 °C to 13 °. Moderate westerly breezes will ease light in the afternoon.

Sunday will see temperatures dipping with frost a real possibility in many areas come nightfall.

Monday will be a mostly dry day. A cold start with frost and ice will clear in morning sunshine.

It will turn cloudier during the day with possible isolated showers. Afternoon highs will reach around 9° to 12° for most, with light to moderate southerly winds.

Overnight, a spell of rain will spread from the Atlantic to many areas as southerly winds freshen. Overnight lows of 5° to 8° can be expected.