‘It’s going to be a tough winter’

With rainfall in July over three times its monthly average, it’s been a difficult summer for farmers. With no improvement on the horizon, agricultural contractor and organic beef and sheep farmer, Rodney Clarke, says farmers have a difficult winter ahead of them.

“The ground around Belturbet and Milltown, where I’m from is very heavy. The weather was going great until June. There was no pressure and I could just tip along and get through jobs. Then the weather broke and farmers panicked. For a while, I was able to do one or two a day, but now it’s gone so wet that, even if there is a dry day, it is still too wet to do anything.” He said farmers will be under a lot of pressure to ensure they have sufficient winter feed. “A lot of farmers have cattle in the shed and are eating their first cut already, with no second cut made, it’s going to be a tough winter.”

Rodney, is trying to stretch out his silage as long as possible to make it last.

“A lot of farmers have cattle back in. I haven’t cattle in yet, I have silage made, no bales made yet though. I need dry few days and won’t open the pit if I can. I was talking to another contractor recently. One of his customers had gone through 40 bales already. When it comes to Spring time, 40 bales could be badly needed. We’ll be hoping for a dry Spring to get smaller cattle out.”

Wet weather also makes a contractor’s job a lot trickier, according to Rodney.

“Heavier crops are a lot more work. They’re harder on the driver as well as the machinery.

Dry weather is easier, you just go into a field and do your jobs. Now you have to pick your way around the fields, you can’t just go in and plough around it anyway you want. You need experience and to know the lie of the land. You have to get in and out doing as little damage as possible, which isn’t always possible,” he explained.

Rodney, whose contract work involves hedgecutting, silage, as well as spreading slurry and silage says that he has reduced the amount of contracting work he does to spend time on his own farm, but advances in agricultural technology mean that he can do a lot of contracting himself.

“There are a lot more contractors around these days than there used to be, and good help is very hard to get. But machinery has gotten very big. I’m able to do a lot of it myself.

“Years ago I’d only have one mower behind the tractor, but now I have two, if not three at any one time. It allows me to get in and out of a job a lot quicker, as one tractor can do the work of two or three.

“This gives me more time for my farm at home. Running about checking cattle takes an hour or two every morning and evening. It might sound like a small job, but they have to be done.”