Is this year the worst yet - weather wise?

dryan

In the last few days i have started feeding hay to cattle on the grass (and i see some neighbours doing the same too) as grass supply is getting pretty tight.

The cattle are going mad for it.
Its only September 1st - this is looking like a seriously long winter ahead.

Sam Kade

Last year wasn't much better at least in 2007 we got September dry. They are saying now that it will be good from 6th-17th of this month and we will be back to the rain again. If we don't get a dry spell in september it's going to be a long winter.

Rujib1

Definitely the worst one in decades. Land is like thin soup :mad:

R1

irish_bob

its pretty obvious that a trend is developing , simply put , the weather is going to be like this from now on , most years , farmers on heavy land are going to find things tough if not impossible , in my opinion , dry land is worth more than double what heavy land is worth , you simply cannot have enough of it

whelan1

yes its worse than last year imo , i have the cows in at night since friday and had them in at night for 2 weeks at the start of august too luckily i got my second cut done but never got to put slurry out on it

Rujib1

I got fairly dry land also, but now I am seeing where the combi baler my contractor uses, has crushed and blocked my old flag stone drains :mad:

I seeing 5 big wet patches now I never saw before

Also seeing ever increasing population of rushes around my land due to the constant rain for past few years. Never used to have rushes on my place

More rain = more cost and more hassle. Definitely a time to seriously look at stocking levels. Bet there is a better margin out of low input / low voume, high quality output.

R1

Muckit

We've a wet farm awell and I've noticed serious deterioration in the land over the last few years (alot of rushes, tracking, water lodging and weeds).

I think you've hit the nail on the head, the weather has a big part to play in it, but also the contractors.:mad: Bigger isn't always better. It sickens me when I see articles in the journal etc about floatation tyres and bigger machines leaving no tracks......so?? This doesn't mean that they aren't doing any damage!

All it means is the contractor can get in/out of the field as quickly as possible without getting stuck! 22' silage trailers and big combi baler/wrapper units are NOT in the farmers best interest, wel, ground condition wise anyways:eek:. (I think subsoilers and aerators will be common practice v soon)

I guess looking misty eyed at the past to the little fergie 35, the PZ and the small square baler isn't the answer either, but we've got to see that things are changing, and not always for the better!!:rolleyes:

adne

Muckit wrote: »

I think you've hit the nail on the head, the weather has a big part to play in it, but also the contractors.:mad: Bigger isn't always better. It sickens me when I see articles in the journal etc about floatation tyres and bigger machines leaving no tracks......so?? This doesn't mean that they aren't doing any damage!

well said, my local contractor upgraded his slurry tanks to ones twice the size..... he won't be getting my trade anymore... there is a limit to the size of machinery that some fields in west of ireland can handle..

irish_bob

Muckit wrote: »

We've a wet farm awell and I've noticed serious deterioration in the land over the last few years (alot of rushes, tracking, water lodging and weeds).

I think you've hit the nail on the head, the weather has a big part to play in it, but also the contractors.:mad: Bigger isn't always better. It sickens me when I see articles in the journal etc about floatation tyres and bigger machines leaving no tracks......so?? This doesn't mean that they aren't doing any damage!

All it means is the contractor can get in/out of the field as quickly as possible without getting stuck! 22' silage trailers and big combi baler/wrapper units are NOT in the farmers best interest, wel, ground condition wise anyways:eek:. (I think subsoilers and aerators will be common practice v soon)

I guess looking misty eyed at the past to the little fergie 35, the PZ and the small square baler isn't the answer either, but we've got to see that things are changing, and not always for the better!!:rolleyes:

im more misty eyed for the weather we had in the past , not the machinery

bbam

I read an article recently in the NG that North West Europe would become steadily wetter with the continuing climate change.. Not just through higher average rainfall but also through real downpour and perlonged spells of heavy rain, the article predicted more inland flooding than ever in the region...

It really feels like its happening...

elius

I wonder is it more of a case that water has no where to go.. A clean ditch makes a massive differance. ive been out shooting and ive noticed many fields poached when buy right they should be like cement. Its only the first of september. I do hope we get a few dry days cuz i dont think many cerial or veg growers will last after this year...:eek::eek:.:eek:

Burgerman55

would it really be that bad if the midlands was converted into one large lake??



i'd leave the taps on if i thought it would work

EastTyrone

i don't think that this is the worst year, we havent had that much warm weather whih means the land cant dry and the water has just built up

mooverlive

what rock did u come out from under tyrone jesus man , the papers are even saying its the worst in 50 years

EastTyrone

mooverlive wrote: »

what rock did u come out from under tyrone jesus man , the papers are even saying its the worst in 50 years

up here the fileds are wet and the sillage in some places can be taken in but very messy work, the lsst 2 summers have been worse in my opinion

mooverlive

no way at least last year april and june were dry it took till august to wet ground it never dried this year, guys down here have nothing cut yet , first cut was about 6 to 8 bales per acre, there will b a fodder crisis down here as most people feeding some bales of hay silage or straw at moment

EastTyrone

mooverlive wrote: »

no way at least last year april and june were dry it took till august to wet ground it never dried this year, guys down here have nothing cut yet , first cut was about 6 to 8 bales per acre, there will b a fodder crisis down here as most people feeding some bales of hay silage or straw at moment

here we had a good june and late may and everyone got there first cut up here. allot of people have got a secopnd cut in but theres alota places itss turning into a ploughing session and our cattle are still out in the fields so were grand that way untill into september

mooverlive

we just about got most of first got second cuts on the dry ground but like u guys we ad ploughing sessions ,but pressure is growing on grain harvest straw is scarce enough at moment even if it dries now its too late . one sick year but its the third in a row

emaherx

This is not the worst year yet. As the early summer was quite good. I think most people got first crop silage saved quite well and even some good hay in June. However the last two months were awefull.

I think the last 2 years were just as bad. I know its been mentioned that it was the worst july in 50 years. But last August was far worse than that, we even needed sand bags to keep water out of the house (and its on high ground, the river beside the house could not pass under bridges quick enough). Last year there was alot more flash floods.

Also someone needs to mention some of the bad weather from the 80's, 1985 I think was the worst year. The weather than had a much worse effect due to higher dependance on hay and lack of 4 wheel drive tractors.

I just baled and wrapped 90 bales yesterday, I barley even marked the ground, I used a MF698T 4WD with class 46 baler and MF365 4WD with Mchale 991BJ wrapper. Larger machines as mentioned by someone else would have destroyed the field.

The long range forecast is fairly good so hopefuly we will be able to get the slurry out now.

roosterman71

elius wrote: »

I wonder is it more of a case that water has no where to go.. A clean ditch makes a massive differance. ive been out shooting and ive noticed many fields poached when buy right they should be like cement. Its only the first of september. I do hope we get a few dry days cuz i dont think many cerial or veg growers will last after this year...:eek::eek:.:eek:

The main problem is the soil is saturated from constant rain for the last 2/3 years. There has been no prolonged dry spell (say 4/5 weeks) that would allow the soil to dry, and release its moisture. As a result, the continuing rain isn't soaked up by the soil as much, so will run to the nearest drain/river, which is also fuller than normal and thus the water will lodge is fields

irish_bob

EastTyrone wrote: »

up here the fileds are wet and the sillage in some places can be taken in but very messy work, the lsst 2 summers have been worse in my opinion

up untill a week ago , i would say ( not counting may ) that this year was marginally better than last year , 2007 wasnt nearly as bad as either 2008 or 2009 but it was still dreadfull

the month of may this year was like nothing ive ever seen where i live , it was cold aswell as wet so the cattle on my brother farm went back in and i was working falt out despite my condition

irish_bob

emaherx wrote: »

This is not the worst year yet. As the early summer was quite good. I think most people got first crop silage saved quite well and even some good hay in June. However the last two months were awefull.

I think the last 2 years were just as bad. I know its been mentioned that it was the worst july in 50 years. But last August was far worse than that, we even needed sand bags to keep water out of the house (and its on high ground, the river beside the house could not pass under bridges quick enough). Last year there was alot more flash floods.

Also someone needs to mention some of the bad weather from the 80's, 1985 I think was the worst year. The weather than had a much worse effect due to higher dependance on hay and lack of 4 wheel drive tractors.

I just baled and wrapped 90 bales yesterday, I barley even marked the ground, I used a MF698T 4WD with class 46 baler and MF365 4WD with Mchale 991BJ wrapper. Larger machines as mentioned by someone else would have destroyed the field.

The long range forecast is fairly good so hopefuly we will be able to get the slurry out now.

1985 has attained legendary status in farmers of a certain age , mind , i myself was only 8 but i do remember the big thunderstorm , in reality though it wasnt near as bad as the past three years and the statistics proove it , back in 85 , you didnt need much wet weather to cause havoc with trying to get silage out of fields , machinery was in the stone age compared to now , many outfits were not 4 wheel drive and to bring in 70 acres took the guts of a week , now even the biggest jobs take little more than a day yet you cant even get a 24 hr dry spell , thats without even mentioning the reliance on hay back then and the absence of baled silage , 85 was awfull but not like now

the last really good prolonged spell of good weather in this country was in april 2007

Sam Kade

irish_bob wrote: »

1985 has attained legendary status in farmers of a certain age , mind , i myself was only 8 but i do remember the big thunderstorm , in reality though it wasnt near as bad as the past three years and the statistics proove it , back in 85 , you didnt need much wet weather to cause havoc with trying to get silage out of fields , machinery was in the stone age compared to now , many outfits were not 4 wheel drive and to bring in 70 acres took the guts of a week , now even the biggest jobs take little more than a day yet you cant even get a 24 hr dry spell , thats without even mentioning the reliance on hay back then and the absence of baled silage , 85 was awfull but not like now

the last really good prolonged spell of good weather in this country was in april 2007

The last prolonged spell of dry weather in this country was the end of August and all of September 2007.

irish_bob

Sam Kade wrote: »

The last prolonged spell of dry weather in this country was the end of August and all of September 2007.

im talking about a full month of dry weather , sept 2007 doesnt stick out in memory , april of that year certainly does , ive usually a pretty good memory regarding weather , i know september 2004 was a particulary good september

Sam Kade

irish_bob wrote: »

im talking about a full month of dry weather , sept 2007 doesnt stick out in memory , april of that year certainly does , ive usually a pretty good memory regarding weather , i know september 2004 was a particulary good september

So am I. September 2007 was dry for the whole month.

mooverlive

im at home on farm since june 1986 ,that 23 years u can talk about 85 and even 79 as bad years bu remmember good hay was made in those years the problem people could not get it in to sheds i can remember pushing it in to dykes in sept and what was brought in was weather damaged and ended up in slurry pits , also remember stocking rates were lower , farm roadways were non existent , on off grazing was never heard of guy s the volume of water falling now days is just unreal we are getting a weeks rain in one hour. now from my point of view living in cork nw we have highest rain fall in country, case in point grazed a paddock well corner of paddock grazed first time in 2 months, there was no growth this year low bale count off first cuts have some paddock grazed only twice they got wrecked in may and beginning of july , still not flush with grass , can some start a poll , and its still raining:eek:

MfMan

Am inclined to say that this is the worst year yet, mainly because of the horrendous month of May. Had to go out into silage fields with a water pump at the end of that month and pump away closhes from wet, low spots where there was 2 ft+ of water. August last year might have been worse but as the weatherman said the other night, we hadn't a completely dry day since July began. That plus depressed prices in every sector of the industry make this moreso than other years one of the worst ever for farming. I really feel for cereal growers, bad and all as livestock is.

Slightly O/T, I see Norbrook industries in the North have come up with a new all-in-one pour-on (Closmectin) for fluke, external parasites and lung worms; a great 'invention' if it works!

tfitzgerald

am not a farmer so cant talk about how wet the land is but it feels to me like it has being raining forever and i really think this has being the worst summer in years

Rujib1

Help is around the corner http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0902/breaking31.htm

R1

vanderbadger

MfMan wrote: »

Am inclined to say that this is the worst year yet, mainly because of the horrendous month of May. Had to go out into silage fields with a water pump at the end of that month and pump away closhes from wet, low spots where there was 2 ft+ of water. August last year might have been worse but as the weatherman said the other night, we hadn't a completely dry day since July began. That plus depressed prices in every sector of the industry make this moreso than other years one of the worst ever for farming. I really feel for cereal growers, bad and all as livestock is.

Slightly O/T, I see Norbrook industries in the North have come up with a new all-in-one pour-on (Closmectin) for fluke, external parasites and lung worms; a great 'invention' if it works!

good news on the pour one, i just used closamectin injection a few days back so waiting to see if cattle stop coughing,
getting back to weather, the last couple of year have brought about a noticable deterioration in land, rushes coming were never seen before, to my mind even at the driest period this year in june land was never more than a few days of rain from being in bad shape, 2nd crop hardly grew for me, not sure if ground is just perished at this point

mooverlive

it has to b perished , leteshed no sun ah disaster

Rujib1

There's a lot of builders idle at the moment. Might be a good time to get a quote to roof the country altogether:cool:


R

irish_bob

mooverlive wrote: »

im at home on farm since june 1986 ,that 23 years u can talk about 85 and even 79 as bad years bu remmember good hay was made in those years the problem people could not get it in to sheds i can remember pushing it in to dykes in sept and what was brought in was weather damaged and ended up in slurry pits , also remember stocking rates were lower , farm roadways were non existent , on off grazing was never heard of guy s the volume of water falling now days is just unreal we are getting a weeks rain in one hour. now from my point of view living in cork nw we have highest rain fall in country, case in point grazed a paddock well corner of paddock grazed first time in 2 months, there was no growth this year low bale count off first cuts have some paddock grazed only twice they got wrecked in may and beginning of july , still not flush with grass , can some start a poll , and its still raining:eek:

good post

i especially agree about a weeks rain in one hour , notice , thier doesnt seem to be any light showers anymore , thier all heavy downpours regadless of how long they last

snowman707

to day's rain was the final straw. reckon we had about 40-50mm in 6 hours,

housed the cows after milking, will put in some heifers we are feeding to morrow, the nuts & the grass is just passing through them.

if this continues our sheep will be the best fed in Europe, loads of grass, ....
interestining enough I see the fields with the lightest grass cover are the drier.
seems the heavy grass covers are holding the water

D.Watson

Sam Kade wrote: »

So am I. September 2007 was dry for the whole month.

You're right there Sam had a great spell of weather in late Aug Sep '07.
Harvest was easiest in a while and all sowing done in dry conditions.

Up until today land wasn't as wet as this time last year.
Think we had two serious saturday's of rain in August last year(Clonee bypass was flooded cars abandoned.

Today's rain was a serious setback though.

vincenzolorenzo

Late august and september saved 2007 from being a complete disaster. From the 7th/8th June up until the august bank holiday we didn't make a single bale, normal circumstances with half decent weather we would have had thousands on the clock at this stage. September was a good month that year, i remember getting a rake of work. This year we had a good June but its all been downhill since then. Hard to know if its worse than last year or not but either way it'll go down as a terrible 'summer'.

Sam Kade

irish_bob wrote: »

im talking about a full month of dry weather , sept 2007 doesnt stick out in memory , april of that year certainly does , ive usually a pretty good memory regarding weather , i know september 2004 was a particulary good september

Read the last two posts Bob they might jog your memory.

irish_bob

Sam Kade wrote: »

Read the last two posts Bob they might jog your memory.

i did , i must have got a bang on the head lately

secman

Don't know if it will be to little too late, but weather looks like it will improve with a high pressure building from Wed/ Thur 9th Sept. My neighbours fields are crying for a cut, grass almost lay down yesterday !

Secman

mooverlive

last nights forecast doesnt look very good or hopefull, heavy rain for sun and tues big change from tues nights forecast im not holdin much hope at this stage cows and cattle all in doors around here

Data_Quest

EastTyrone wrote: »

up here the fileds are wet and the sillage in some places can be taken in but very messy work, the lsst 2 summers have been worse in my opinion

The data from the Armagh Observatory backs up what you are saying. The August Rainfall data is not posted yet but Summer (Jun, Jul, Aug) 2007 was 376 mm; 2008 was 290mm and Jun/July 2009 was 154mm (and Aug was probably in the range 100mm - 150 mm) so that makes Summer 2007 the wettest in Armaghnsince Summer 1958 (anyone remember that year? ).

The quote from Met Eireann about rainfall for this summer is:

"the majority of stations [rainfall] totals were not as high as the summer of either 2007 or 2008"

However it does depend on where you live in Ireland as some stations had record highs for summer 2009 (Valentia and Mullingar).

The difference this year is that we have had 3 much wetter than normal summers in a row which gives us the impression that we will never get a dry summer again. Also since 1958 we've had relatively dry summers (1985 was an exception) so this further increases our perception that summers are getting wetter. If you were to look at the overall trend since 1839 in the Armagh data you would see a small decrease in the level of rainfall over the period (decreasing from about 240mm to 200mm on average).

Data_Quest

irish_bob wrote: »

1985 has attained legendary status in farmers of a certain age , mind , i myself was only 8 but i do remember the big thunderstorm , in reality though it wasnt near as bad as the past three years and the statistics proove it , back in 85 , you didnt need much wet weather to cause havoc with trying to get silage out of fields , machinery was in the stone age compared to now , many outfits were not 4 wheel drive and to bring in 70 acres took the guts of a week , now even the biggest jobs take little more than a day yet you cant even get a 24 hr dry spell , thats without even mentioning the reliance on hay back then and the absence of baled silage , 85 was awfull but not like now

the last really good prolonged spell of good weather in this country was in april 2007

Looking at the Armagh data Summer 1985 rainfall was 291mm compared to Summer 2007 with rainfall 376mm

irish_bob

Data_Quest wrote: »

Looking at the Armagh data Summer 1985 rainfall was 291mm compared to Summer 2007 with rainfall 376mm

statistics dont lie

pakalasa

I thought I'd resurrect this !!!
Looking out the window here. 13 March 2012 and the weather is amazing.

johngalway

pakalasa wrote: »

I thought I'd resurrect this !!!
Looking out the window here. 12 March 2012 and the weather is amazing.

Yep but 13th March drizzly this morning and overcast again :rolleyes:

Am going to price a roof for the farm

bbam

We badly need the weather to dry up. The ground hasn't dried properly since July/August.
That roof sounds good, just not sure if we'd get firm footings for the uprights !

It seems to be getting gradually harder to fight back rushes round here, driving along I just see more and more fields with rush growing that would have been clear two or three years ago. It's very frustrating.

PatQfarmer

Sorry lads, but it has been one of the driest winters ever here in Costa del Tipperary. Cattle out by day over most of winter, full-time since early Feb, now running out of grass! Have a feeder with haylage in with the weanlings, trying to slow the rotation. 65% of farm grazed by the 10th March!
Fertiliser is out, but has not melted yet. We need rain!!!:D

Birdnuts

PatQfarmer wrote: »

Sorry lads, but it has been one of the driest winters ever here in Costa del Tipperary. Cattle out by day over most of winter, full-time since early Feb, now running out of grass! Have a feeder with haylage in with the weanlings, trying to slow the rotation. 65% of farm grazed by the 10th March!
Fertiliser is out, but has not melted yet. We need rain!!!:D

Don't worry - summer is sure to be a washout:D:(:rolleyes:;)

johngalway

bbam wrote: »

We badly need the weather to dry up. The ground hasn't dried properly since July/August.
That roof sounds good, just not sure if we'd get firm footings for the uprights !

It seems to be getting gradually harder to fight back rushes round here, driving along I just see more and more fields with rush growing that would have been clear two or three years ago. It's very frustrating.

We've had damn all proper dry days here since last May really, certainly not two in a row :eek: I have been busy draining over Winter, Dad keeps telling me I'm doing too much and the farm will dry out - I keep asking, when?!

Been kicking the snot out of rushes for the past three years or so, very few left now. Got to say it's immensely satisfying to see grass where it used to be jungle!

whelan1

we have formed small groups in our discussion group, where 3 of us go to a farm each week and monitor the grass, i have heavy land, another guy has a dry farm, has cows out since 20th january other lad is in the middle... went to the guys dry farm today, grass growth has slowed down, cows back in at night, slurry that was spread a month ago is still on top of the ground.... tonight will be the first night i have my cows out at night- 10 april was always the date we had here for letting cows out at night:eek: different parts of the country vary greatly

dar31

would you chance putting in grass seed early next week