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Updated at 3.15pm
FARMERS ARE EXPERIENCING “difficult and challenging” farming conditions as Storm Emma hits Ireland, and many are struggling to draw in fresh water supplies for milking and other activities.
IFA President Joe Healy said that deep snowfall has left farmyards in a very difficult state and drifting has compounded this problem in places.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, he said: ”I think while farmers probably have more mobility than most with machinery etc, it does place a large workload and a lot of stress on them. They have a lot of animals – they don’t want to be pulling them out in cold weather and putting them indoors. It’s an extra workload.”
In particular a lot of farmers at this point would have had a lot of animals out in the grass already, and having to bring them back in to look after them in sheds is meaning you are having to find homes for animals in sheds that mightn’t have seen animals for a long time.
He said there was extra pressure regarding fodder, as farmers would have expected to have animals out on grass right now. A recent fodder shortage has also been putting more pressure on them.
“It’s just raising that fear again,” he said of a fodder crisis.
“If it only lasts a couple of days it shouldn’t be too bad, but if it could raise fears with farmers as to how they feed their animals.”
Milk reductions
Glanbia Milk Quality / TwitterStay safe on farm over the next few days. Collection patterns will be varied due to weather conditions - taking into account driving conditions and both farmer and driver safety. #staysafe #StormEmma
— Tirlán Milk Quality (@TirlanMilkQual) February 27, 2018
Healy warned that frozen water pipes are posing a major problem for dairy farmers and for drinking water on livestock farms.
He said that for dairy farmers, depending on the part of the country they are in milk collections might be interrupted. This might mean farmers having to reduce milking their cows so they don’t create the same volume of milk.
He is calling on co-ops to hold the February milk price to support dairy farmers through the horrendous impact of the snow storm.
“Co-ops have understandably not been able to maintain collection frequency since Tuesday, and in many cases, those have been altogether interrupted,” he said in a statement.
While many farmers have the capacity for four milkings in their tanks, they are now all coming under severe pressure. Farmers need to be able to count on their co-ops to make a supportive decision on milk price for February supplies to help them through this very difficult time.
“It’s a mix of stress that’s placed on them as well,” he said. “On top of that some of our members who would have children, childcare isn’t available today and [on Friday] schools are closed, creches are closed. That’s probably placing an added workload on them that wouldn’t be there normally, particularly from a farm safety point of view.”
Healy said that for sheep farmers, lambing capacity is becoming a problem because they cannot get their stock out. He is appealing to farmers who have spare capacity in their sheds to make it available to neighbours with newborn lambs.
With sheep, if you get any volume of snow at all there is no grass for them to eat. You need to bring them in or find a way of getting fodder into the field. For most sheep farmers at the moment it’s probably a fear of losing lambs. The mother will have her coat of wool, but the lambs will be born with very little.
He said that the IFA is trying to emphasise to its members not to put themselves at risk.
“One thing you’d often say about farmers is they care more about their animals than themselves. If you’re gone, there’s no one to look after the animals for a long time. We’d tell farmers not to take any risks,” he told TheJournal.ie.
The best and safest place to be is at home but anyone who has to venture out on the farm should wrap up warm, wear hi-visibility clothing, let someone else know where they are going and their expected time of return.
They are also asking farmers to check with their neighbours and older farmers nearby, to make sure they are OK during the bad weather.
Advice
The Department of Agriculture has told farmers it is essential that water pipes in the farmyard and also pipes leading to outside water troughs are properly insulated and prevented from freezing up.
This is particularly important at this time when cows are calving and sheep lambing, giving rise to a heightened demand for water.
It said that in the case of sheep flocks it is essential that they are brought to a sheltered area during the worst of this event.
For any animal welfare issues arising from this severe weather event, farmers are advised to keep in touch with their Teagasc adviser, their veterinary practitioner, or to contact the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Animal Welfare Helpline:
It also advises that the farmyard and its environs should be fully gritted or sanded and that all machinery should be correctly stored and maintained properly.
Where necessary, heating should be provided to ensure that milking equipment and other critical plant does not freeze up.
With regard to personal safety, when herding livestock in remote areas “farmers should ensure that somebody knows where they are and that they stay in contact”, said the Department.
With reporting by Hayley Halpin
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the criteria for a red alert snow warning is ‘Significant falls of snow likely to cause accumulations of 8 cm or greater below 250 m AMSL. Slippery paths and roads due to accumulation of ice on untreated surfaces; situation likely to worsen.’ and for low temperature it’s -2 to -10 . According to that Red alert was spot on even if patches of the country were less affected.
The red alert was spot on. It’s blowing a gale here in Longford, it has snowed all night again last night and the snow has drifted up to about 4ft along my fence. There is no way i will be able to get out of the house today and to be honest, looking out and the conditions i don’t think i want to go out. It is beautiful where i live and i wouldn’t change it for the world but it comes at a price which is it stands we are stranded. I can’t imagine what the people in the worst affected areas are going through. I’ve never seen anything like it. I was only a child for the snow of 82 so you don’t realise the seriousness of weather like this.
The bottom line for many farmers is simply, if they don’t brave the atrocious conditions to save their livestock they’ll be left with no income for the entire year. It’s about much more than missing a couple of days work!
The Department don’t answer the phone on normal days. Why would they answer it now?
There must large drifts of snow in parts of the country, that wind blew loads of snow off the roofs of houses beside me, it has to end up some where. Don’t even think of taking to the roads today. Safety first.
Farmers will be afraid their lambs will die….
Not too concerned about their lambs dying when they’re being sent to the slaughterhouse to have their throats cut.
Let’s be 100% honest and truthful here… It’s not their lambs dying that farmers are concerned about , it’s the lack of money derived from the aforementioned lambs’ deaths that has farmers’ afraid.
@OMG!: I suppose that anyone who is going to take a financial hit because of the weather has a right to grumble. Generally its the media who want to make farm animals cuddly and farmers just live with the circle of life and death as the core of their job.
@OMG!: Are you under the impression that farm animals are pets? Of course the farmers are worried about their bottom line!
@OMG!: Well would YOU work for nothing?
@OMG!: not withstanding the economic issue – there is a big difference between sending an animal off to be humanely slaughtered, and digging dead lambs out of your fields because they’ve died in the snow. Just because farmers kill their animals in the end, it doesn’t mean they don’t give a shit about them while they’re in their care. Myself I’ve spend the day running around the neighbourhood trying to get water for my 7 pet horses. Can’t imagine what it would be like if you had a 100 cattle or a 1000 sheep
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