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THE COST OF fodder in parts of Ireland has surged as the toll of this summer’s extended hot weather has hit home.
A survey by online sales platform DoneDeal shows that the price of grass-based animal feed has surged across the board, with silage particularly badly affected.
The fodder crisis has been a topic of discussion for many months now, but the recent heatwave and general dry weather has now exacerbated the situation it seems.
This is a crisis for farmers,” said Adam Ferguson of DoneDeal.
The snow in spring followed by the extreme drought has made the production of hay, straw and silage extremely difficult and we’re seeing this now in these surging prices.
The website analysed the prices of over 5,000 adverts for bales of hay placed on it between June and July of this year versus the same months in 2017.
The price of silage has increased by 31% year-on year, while straw has risen to €24.02 a bale from €16.35 in 2017, a rise of 47%.
The crisis has affected Leinster farms in particular, with the cost of silage and hay bales jumping from €21.38 to €28.89 in the eastern province, a jump of 26%.
Connacht has been least affected, with prices moving from €24.58 to €25.71, an increase of just 4%.
At the moment we’re witnessing Spanish companies, who have identified the crisis, advertising Alfalfa and English straw on DoneDeal to Irish farmers,” said Ferguson.
“Encouraging trade in Ireland with the stock that we currently have in the country will help alleviate the problem,” he added, stating that all such ads on DoneDeal will be free until the end of August.
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I find it hilariously ironic that people are on here complaining about farmers complaining about the fodder crisis. Just wait a couple of months for the same people to complain about the cost of food because we have to import it due to a dreadful harvest and increased costs for farmers.
The same clowns probably think that milk is made in a factory, meat is made by elves and veg is picked by a Jolly Green Giant in a mythical magic wonderland.
@Ennui Kenny: Some stalk on that Jolly Green Giant
@Ennui Kenny: Milk is made in a factory. That’s why they call it factory farming…It’s not some happy,humane and compassionate farmer sitting on a stool milking a cow he fisted 9 months prior. There should be a carbon Tax on farmers as they are the main polluters. We need to get rid of the meat and dairy industry. It’s a barbaric caveman industry.
@Jonathan Waters: jonathan waters Id imagine fisting cows is rare or was that a typo
@Jonathan Waters: “Milk is made in a factory.”????????????????
If you ever venture outside of Dublin and into the countryside, go up to any random dairy farmer anywhere in Ireland and say that to them! Video their response and put it upon the internet for all of us to see. We all need a good laugh.
If you do perchance find a factory that actually does “make” milk could you ask them what ingredients they add to water to make the milk. Enlighten all of us cavemen and women!
@Jonathan Waters: looks like somebody has been believing all the propaganda dished out by PETA.
@Do the Bort man: Farmers look like letterboxes and bankrobbers.
Good god they are never happy.always something to complain about.
@Seriously stunned: genuine reasons for the farmers to be concerned this year, wouldn’t you think?
@Seriously stunned: so let the cattle starve ? You cant get their food in Lidl ?
@Seriously stunned: Says the guy that’s complaining
@Seriously stunned:
Most people won’t think about it until it hits their pocket. Veg and Spud growers struggled this year too. Potato plants just shut down and stopped growing due to lack of water. Expect a few price increases due to shortage in near future. Most of Europe in the same boat.
@Tweed Cap: all that money saved by not having to go to the tanning salon all summer will have to be spent on those greedy millionaire farmers…
@Paddy: yea but its all the time.no matter what the weather they are never happy.the farmers this and the farmers that.they never stop complaining.
@Seriously stunned: You should try to find a grand a week or maybe more to keep their animals fed. Seriously ignorant comment. Walk in their shoes sometime, it might be an eye opener..
@ianglen: Well its not your average citizen selling fodder is it?? its one farmer upping the price for another. so why dont they go complain to the IFA so??
@ianglen: but its farmers selling fodder so……. complain about farmer to the IFA
@Dave Johnston:
The problem is farmers expanding their herds and not reserving enough land for fodder knowing the tax payer will inevitably bail them out.
@Seán J. Troy: Don’t you mean “bale” them out?
@Seriously stunned: I doubt you have any idea of the work that’s involved in farming. It’s not a 9-5 job. If you had to work through lambing you’d be begging to go back to your job, if you have one.
@Seán J. Troy: Not really. Don’t know of any farmer who has a mindset of the tax payer will inevitably bail them out. That is mindset is generally reserved for the top and bottom members of the social hierarchy. But glad to know you have a few years salary saved up.
@Seriously stunned: Then why are you complaining?
@BeanBag: Every sort of fodder is scarce atm. There are bales of silage and straw being robbed out of sheds and fields. Prices inevitably go up where an item is scarce, farmers no different in that respect.
@Dave Johnston: that’s my point its doesn’t matter if the circumstances are exceptional they always have the poor mouth on them.always complaining.don’t be a farmer if you can’t handle it.most of us work hard and find it tough so give it a rest.
@Seriously stunned: did you read the article? It’s a survey carried out by done deal which has been reported on
@Seán J. Troy: we have less cows this year and extra silage land and grass and silage is still scarce
Weather this year was unprecedented from the long hard winter to the heatwave this summer
Very little chance to grow any crop of a decent volume .
Farmers have a strong case for government support as these crops offer employment ,require machinery that in turn need fuel and add substantially to the Irish economy .
They cannot go it alone .
If they could only get the return of all that money the IFA officials miss took as added Bonuses this fiddle could pay for the fodder !
@Johnny Mason: Fair point, those guys definitely had an entitled attitude about them with no criminal charges that I’ve heard of.
The snow can’t have helped eaither
I’ve never seen a year like 2018 weather wise. Spring really didn’t start until mid May, and by the end of May the we were having temperatures into the mid 20s followed by a drought. Because of the cold, first cut silage yields were well down, and because of the drought, the second cut is really only starting now, weeks later than normal. There will be very few third cuts this year. Hopefully the current weather can continue well into October, the longer grass keeps growing, the less winter feed will be required.
Farmers have so much to complain about I am surprised there is a farmer left in the country…..unless of course they still make a few quid
Truck loads of straw every day heading North on the M1 N.I. Reg Lorries.?????
@Vincent Sharpe: I don’t see the problem?
@Vincent Sharpe: You do realise that straw is not fodder right?
@Ed Butler: Farmers generally prefer to feed hay (dry forage) or silage (moist forage) to their livestock. Straw is really nothing but stalks and generally more suited for bedding.
Straw can be used as a source of fibre for cattle in winter and can provide a major portion of the energy requirement. However, straw is very low in protein and must also be balanced with minerals. Oaten straw is best while barley straw is better than wheaten straw. The most suitable cattle for feeding straw in winter are dry suckler cows, store cattle and weanlings.
@Sean Conway: Yeah Sean Comrade Stalin had it all sorted. He murdered and exiled the kulaks (the producing farmers of Russia) and then Russia experienced a famine the likes of which the World had never witnessed before—-But then you’re a faithful Commie disciple of his–Aren’ you?t
Farmers robbing farmers.
@Owen Lynch: It’s called economics. Supply and demand,nothing new there.
Is that due to having too many cattle???
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