Worst Spring in Living memory ??

Alibaba

Just wondering is this the worst Spring in living memory , or even the worst spell of weather.

Seems to me like it is , raining almost continuously since last July , ground saturated almost since then , cattle indoors , poor growth etc

Can't ever remember anything like it and I ain't no chicken ☹️ ( fifties )

Seems to me like we're really starting to see the effects of climate change as these events (bad springs , summers ) seem to be happening with increasing regularity.
Sorry Mr Trump but farming on the (saturated) ground in W Limerick has taught me more about climate change than I reckon you know !

charolais0153

Alibaba wrote: »

Just wondering is this the worst Spring in living memory , or even the worst spell of weather.

Seems to me like it is , raining almost continuously since last July , ground saturated almost since then , cattle indoors , poor growth etc

Can't ever remember anything like it and I ain't no chicken ☹️ ( fifties )

Seems to me like we're really starting to see the effects of climate change as these events (bad springs , summers ) seem to be happening with increasing regularity.
Sorry Mr Trump but farming on the (saturated) ground in W Limerick has taught me more about climate change than I reckon you do !

I have a shoite memory but compared to last year. Lost less lambs to hypothermia this year.
Cows were out later tgan thet were this year.
Lambs have done better this year.
Because of cold weather, no worms in lambs till may at least. It has been more challenging spreading manure and slurry but for me, its not that bad

Fann Linn

Another 7 odd weeks and its the longest day. Downhill all the way then to Christmas, and winter.

Grueller

Fann Linn wrote: »

Another 7 odd weeks and its the longest day. Downhill all the way then to Christmas, and winter.

Jayyyyysusssssss.

Nobbies

Fann Linn wrote: »

Another 7 odd weeks and its the longest day. Downhill all the way then to Christmas, and winter.

O you have me excited already with talk of Christmas and long winter nites in front of the fire.l can't wait.☺

Bleating Lamb

In NW here,was talking to a neighbour with Suckler cows this evening and I was saying to him how this changeable weather must be v dangerous for pneumonia in baby calves.He was saying he has no cows out yet as grass not growing much even where he has fertilizer out.He will have cows in for at least another fortnight....nearly a month longer than last Spring.

Doctors room ghost

Fann Linn wrote: »

Another 7 odd weeks and its the longest day. Downhill all the way then to Christmas, and winter.

That’s the spirit lad.im only messing with you.
An interesting thing I found is the garden centers were selling bare root stuff a month or so longer this season than normal cos the weather is such a load of old sh1te.tonight not too bad but ye would want a fire down last night.its gone to fcuk.

Farfield

It is truly unbelievable. Weather patterns are changing VERY fast. It's leaving ALL farming enterprises very difficult if not impossible here in N. Ireland.

mahoney_j

Worst spring .......we didn’t have one yet just constant winter since last September

Doctors room ghost

mahoney_j wrote: »

Worst spring .......we didn’t have one yet just constant winter since last September

If it gets any worse the swallows will say fcuk that place I’m not going back.

gozunda

Was told by a meteorologist about 20 years ago that if climatic change hit here our weather would get wetter and windier.

And 20 years later he seems to have been spot with regard to the weather getting windier and wetter imo around here.

Say my name

I don't know what Trump has to do with it?
Paris agreement maybe?
All he did was stop American money from going into the kitty and being diveed up by the UNFCCC.

We've more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since the invention of the internal combustion engine. But it could be argued our climate would be a hell of a lot colder now if we didn't have this supposed greenhouse effect.
And by colder I mean our Sun has entered into a minimum faze. 2009 and 2010 were the minimum in our last cycle (a cycle lasts roughly 11 years. Actually it's a half cycle. A full cycle is 22 for a full reversal but people call 11 a cycle for simplicity).
How long or bad this Sun minimum stage will last is anybody's guess but it looks like it won't be anything that we or our parents have experienced before.
Maybe it might be like the Dalton minimum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalton_Minimum
Or it's not expected but the Maunder minimum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunder_Minimum

Sunspots are definitely at an all time low in Nasa recorded history.
A good website to track the "Suns weather".
http://spaceweather.com/

But anyway this climate stuff is not as simple and clean cut as it's first told or made out to be.

Say my name

gozunda wrote: »

Was told by a meteorologist about 20 years ago that if climatic change hit here our weather would get wetter and windier.

And 20 years later he seems to have been spot with regard to the weather getting windier and wetter imo around here.

"Eaten bread is soon forgotten."

It's funny how people one year on forget our record breaking dry autumn(2016), winter/spring (2017) and early summer last year.
And don't forget that was highly unusual.

Alibaba

Say my name wrote: »

I don't know what Trump has to do with it?
Paris agreement maybe?
All he did was stop American money from going into the kitty and being diveed up by the UNFCCC.

We've more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since the invention of the internal combustion engine. But it could be argued our climate would be a hell of a lot colder now if we didn't have this supposed greenhouse effect.
And by colder I mean our Sun has entered into a minimum faze. 2009 and 2010 were the minimum in our last cycle (a cycle lasts roughly 11 years. Actually it's a half cycle. A full cycle is 22 for a full reversal but people call 11 a cycle for simplicity).
How long or bad this Sun minimum stage will last is anybody's guess but it looks like it won't be anything that we or our parents have experienced before.
Maybe it might be like the Dalton minimum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalton_Minimum
Or it's not expected but the Maunder minimum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunder_Minimum

Sunspots are definitely at an all time low in Nasa recorded history.
A good website to track the "Suns weather".
http://spaceweather.com/

But anyway this climate stuff is not as simple and clean cut as it's first told or made out to be.

All I meant was , in my opinion ( I'm not a scientist or anything like that -- wish i was 🙄) all the evidence seems to suggest climate change is happening before our eyes.

President Trump doesn't go along with this ... Thinks '' it's just all a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese ''

gozunda

Say my name wrote: »

"Eaten bread is soon forgotten."

It's funny how people one year on forget our record breaking dry autumn(2016), winter/spring (2017) and early summer last year.
And don't forget that was highly unusual.

I believe the point he was making related to a trend over time and not individual years so much. But I've never seen the land so wet so often and with the frequency of wind events that even had my granddad scratching his head at the ferocity of them ...

John_Rambo

Not a farmer, but a surfer, keen cook and Irish produce buyer. Water temperatures were at an all time low in April, 6.5 degrees!! That's February stuff. Never felt it as cold in the water after years of surfing, particularly on the East coast (was warmer in Kerry, probably due to the Gulf flow). The sea has a big impact on an island nation. So you're certainly not imagining it.

It must be having a massive impact on farms. We're an island nation, and from my experience - if the farmers are having it tough now, we'll feel it down the road in our grocery bill.

Unfortunately, that added grocery expense seems to get lost between the multitude of middle men, factories, retailers and supermarkets, and never actually benifits the farmer.

The farmer looses out, the end Irish produce buyer looses out. Someones making money.

Alibaba

gozunda wrote: »

I believe the point he was making related to a trend over time and not individual years so much. But I've never seen the land so wet so often and with the frequency of wind events that even had my granddad scratching his head at the ferocity of them ...

Yeah that was my point , exactly

Say my name

Alibaba wrote: »

All I meant was , in my opinion ( I'm not a scientist or anything like that -- wish i was 🙄) all the evidence seems to suggest climate change is happening before our eyes.

President Trump doesn't go along with this ... Thinks '' it's just all a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese ''

The Chinese are the biggest polluters in the world. They've destroyed their own farmland and resorted to buying land abroad. But they finally copped on that they can't go on the way they were going on though. They are stopping imports of western rubbish and are it seems trying to get their act together. But don't forget UN money is going towards their "green" projects when they have perfectly enough finances to fund their own projects.
I'm not a Trump supporter but the man's not a complete fool. Although he acts like one.

Climate change has always happened since the earth was formed. I'd actually be a big supporter of carbon trading and carbon capture and storage especially from the financial side of being a farmer/landowner.
As I said before though if more carbon in the atmosphere is creating a greenhouse effect. We could be very thankful of that especially in our northern hemisphere winters till maybe 30 years time when some think this Sun minimum will go back to maximum again. Then we'll have to worry about that extra carbon in the atmosphere.
Carbon is not the cause of Ophelia or the blizzards or this prolonged spell imo.
We've had this weather in Ireland before and way back into history and pre history.

Birdnuts

Say my name wrote: »

Carbon is not the cause of Ophelia or the blizzards or this prolonged spell imo.
We've had this weather in Ireland before and way back into history and pre history.

True - folks should read the old accounts of years like 1684, 1740,1816,1879 etc.

Mooooo

Depends on what part of the country your in. Twas 2012 ruined 13 for us down here whereas the lads in the nw prob have it worse than what it was in 12/13. Pissing rain again 2night after want was an ok day. Prob the worst spring in my time but last year while difficult at times wasn't the worst end of summer/ autumn. It's when a bad summer is followed by a bad spring is what crucifies lads as the fodder to get thru the difficult spring is hard to get or fed out early

Say my name

Birdnuts wrote: »

True - folks should read the old accounts of years like 1684, 1740,1816,1879 etc.

You could even go back to the "ceide fields" and look what happened those fields since then.
And they were actually proper fields with soil.

Bass Reeves

Is it the worst spring in living memory. It is since I started 15 years ago. That is subjective in that I have a dry farm and usually at this stage I am set up. 2013 was bad but I kept N out and you could restrict cattle but that is not an option this year. For me to get out of it I need above normal temp for the next week, I do not think it is going to happen.

People might say I am overstocked but 4 out of 5 years I am ok. This is a bit beyond a bad year in that I have given 30-40 euro more in ration than a bad year and still am not safe, but looking at having to take counter measures again. Cattle still have a hunger (compensatory growth) on them. We need above average temp ASAP but that may bring it's own problems on dry land.

Timmaay

Bass Reeves wrote: »

We need above average temp ASAP but that may bring it's own problems on dry land.

Genuinely a big fear for me at the minute ha. Thinking of putting in afew extra acres of maize to reduce the impact if it did.

lawred2

Fann Linn wrote: »

Another 7 odd weeks and its the longest day. Downhill all the way then to Christmas, and winter.

Ah feck

MfMan

2013 was bad enough also. Land was too wet then to spread slurry on silage ground until end of May. Following that we had the best summer in recent memory; hopefully that's in store for us again.

Tigerandahalf

Wasn't the spring of '76 very bad until about May and then of course that 3 months of record heatwave.

I remember saying on the weather forum last Aug/Sept how the preceding 6 months had been incredibly dry despite been cool and cloudy. I knew it would balance out but didn't think it would last this long.

We are probably overdue a long summer of good weather. If we get a good fortnight too early in the year we seldom get a good summer out of it.
So maybe it will balance itself out.

As for climate change warmer oceans normally means wetter and more stormy weather.

There is a good series on rte at the moment - Ireland's Deep Atlantic - the guy talks a lot about the changes in the ocean and the effect on its creatures.

There always has been change when you look back in the history books at weather events, etc.

Timmaay

Summer of 2012 is the only time I remember being anyway as caught out as I am now, our laneways and paddocks needed serious work then, and it was in the days before pigtails etc, no keeping cows away from wet spots in paddocks. I remember bringing up cows in July that summer, and they were literally sinking a foot into the ground in wet spots, mud caked to udders etc! Our only saving grace that yr/spring 2013 was we cut 72ac of 1st cut from being well under stocked, and managed to get it pitted just as the weather was breaking for good late may.

cute geoge

Here in north kerry ,it would be very hard to say it is the worst spring ever !!2013 really was alot colder,wetter and later.I can also remember a spring back around 1994 being very late and planting corn in early may .I suppose in 2013 there was some work done earlier in march as ground was dry.The biggest harm with this spring is the sunny south east and up into the midlands got the worst of the weather and another thing it has to be the longest spell of **** weather in living memory from last august on wards the ground is saturated

KatyMac

I can remember a year way back when I was but a sapling that almost no hay was made due to an awful wet summer. The government of the day gave vouchers to farmers to get bags of nuts/meal to help them along. It was somewhere in the 1970s I think. I used to make hay with my father and I well remember wearing wellies trying to pull the 'hay' out of the growing grass with hand rakes it had been down so long. We made laps that year as well! (Betcha none of the younger farmers here even know what I'm talking about!) Can't imagine there was much feed value in it but was better than nothing at the same time.

Shauny2010

The difference between this year and 2013 is the winter started much earlier for many last year. The majority had cattle in sheds by the first of Oct. Some had them in well before then. It has resulted in a 7 month winter which everyone has to admit is unheard of up to now.
I was looking at the long range forcast and it looks like we are in for an awful flood of rain again mid next week. I think many will be abandoning the current way of farming and looking at other systems as 7 months inside in sheds is a no no

Shauny2010

The difference between this year and 2013 is the winter started much earlier for many last year. The majority had cattle in sheds by the first of Oct. Some had them in well before then. It has resulted in a 7 month winter which everyone has to admit is unheard of up to now.
I was looking at the long range forecast and it looks like we are in for an awful flood of rain again mid next week. I think many will be abandoning the current way of farming and looking at other systems as 7 months inside in sheds is a no no

Alibaba

cute geoge wrote: »

Here in north kerry ,it would be very hard to say it is the worst spring ever !!2013 really was alot colder,wetter and later.I can also remember a spring back around 1994 being very late and planting corn in early may .I suppose in 2013 there was some work done earlier in march as ground was dry.The biggest harm with this spring is the sunny south east and up into the midlands got the worst of the weather and another thing it has to be the longest spell of **** weather in living memory from last august on wards the ground is saturated

Yeah I cannot remember a spell of such poor weather lasting this long and it's dragging on and on.

No drying .. Worth talking about...That's just one thing there hasn't been at all this year .

Farming on marginal land now in the West / SW of Ireland is becoming an impossibility in the last few years.

coolshannagh28

John_Rambo wrote: »

Not a farmer, but a surfer, keen cook and Irish produce buyer. Water temperatures were at an all time low in April, 6.5 degrees!! That's February stuff. Never felt it as cold in the water after years of surfing, particularly on the East coast (was warmer in Kerry, probably due to the Gulf flow). The sea has a big impact on an island nation. So you're certainly not imagining it.

It must be having a massive impact on farms. We're an island nation, and from my experience - if the farmers are having it tough now, we'll feel it down the road in our grocery bill.

Unfortunately, that added grocery expense seems to get lost between the multitude of middle men, factories, retailers and supermarkets, and never actually benifits the farmer.

The farmer looses out, the end Irish produce buyer looses out. Someones making money.

The cold water temps are being attributed to arctic ice melting , while the gulf stream seems to be shifting because of this .

Tigerandahalf

coolshannagh28 wrote: »

The cold water temps are being attributed to arctic ice melting , while the gulf stream seems to be shifting because of this .

Going south?
With the ice melting there are likely to be some affects depending on where that water gets drawn to. Is the cold water pusing the gulf stream further south?

Birdnuts

I remember older relatives telling me about 1946/47. War time shortages, a disastrous harvest due to torrential rain followed by the snowiest winter of the 20th centenary with snow drifts still hanging around into the following June!!

charolais0153

Birdnuts wrote: »

I remember older relatives telling me about 1946/47. War time shortages, a disastrous harvest due to torrential rain followed by the snowiest winter of the 20th centenary with snow drifts still hanging around into the following June!!

If you listened to some people, it only rained in winter and the sun shone for weeks in summer

Angus2018

Alibaba wrote: »

Farming on marginal land now in the West / SW of Ireland is becoming an impossibility in the last few years.

This is a topic that will be avoided and ignored but if this kind of weather keeps up for the next few years then it's a going to be a reality that you can't farm in these areas.

coolshannagh28

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Going south?
With the ice melting there are likely to be some affects depending on where that water gets drawn to. Is the cold water pusing the gulf stream further south?

Well that's the theory , climatologists are predicting that we could eventually have a Canadian type climate ; cold winters ,warm summers.

Dakota Dan

KatyMac wrote: »

I can remember a year way back when I was but a sapling that almost no hay was made due to an awful wet summer. The government of the day gave vouchers to farmers to get bags of nuts/meal to help them along. It was somewhere in the 1970s I think. I used to make hay with my father and I well remember wearing wellies trying to pull the 'hay' out of the growing grass with hand rakes it had been down so long. We made laps that year as well! (Betcha none of the younger farmers here even know what I'm talking about!) Can't imagine there was much feed value in it but was better than nothing at the same time.

I'm around your age but never heard of laps, would it be grass cocks and wynds? Hay was a lot easier to save on a bad year with wynds, plenty work though.

coolshannagh28

KatyMac wrote: »

I can remember a year way back when I was but a sapling that almost no hay was made due to an awful wet summer. The government of the day gave vouchers to farmers to get bags of nuts/meal to help them along. It was somewhere in the 1970s I think. I used to make hay with my father and I well remember wearing wellies trying to pull the 'hay' out of the growing grass with hand rakes it had been down so long. We made laps that year as well! (Betcha none of the younger farmers here even know what I'm talking about!) Can't imagine there was much feed value in it but was better than nothing at the same time.

Laps then scotch rucks followed by rucks then a peak or the shed.

Alibaba

It seems though that these 'weather events' like this awful Spring seem to happening on a much more regular basis.

Either a bad Spring like this one , bad summer or a bad Autumn , one of these or two , almost every year now it appears.

They also look to have become more severe over the last few years.

Something definitely seems to have gone wrong with the weather.

charolais0153

Alibaba wrote: »

It seems though that these 'weather events' like this awful Spring seem to happening on a much more regular basis.

Either a bad Spring like this one , bad summer or a bad Autumn , one of these or two , almost every year now it appears.

They also look to have become more severe over the last few years.

Something definitely seems to have gone wrong with the weather.

16 autumn. 17 spring . 17 summer. A full year of fantastic weather imo.

hurling_lad

charolais0153 wrote: »

16 autumn. 17 spring . 17 summer. A full year of fantastic weather imo.

What's that they say about eaten bread?

tanko

charolais0153 wrote: »

16 autumn. 17 spring . 17 summer. A full year of fantastic weather imo.

Summer ‘17 was fantastic weather??
Which country are we talking about here.

wrangler

tanko wrote: »

Summer ‘17 was fantastic weather??
Which country are we talking about here.

record grass growth any way

orchard farm

Angus2018 wrote: »

This is a topic that will be avoided and ignored but if this kind of weather keeps up for the next few years then it's a going to be a reality that you can't farm in these areas.

True you can work around marginal lands but the weather will end up beating us.conifers are coming like it or not

theaceofspies

Snow on the Sleve Mish mountains in Kerry today (no kidding). It's going to be a scorcher of a summer.

Dakota Dan

Alibaba wrote: »

It seems though that these 'weather events' like this awful Spring seem to happening on a much more regular basis.

Either a bad Spring like this one , bad summer or a bad Autumn , one of these or two , almost every year now it appears.

They also look to have become more severe over the last few years.

Something definitely seems to have gone wrong with the weather.

1981 was a sh1te summer 1983 sh1te spring early summer, great weather from July on. 1984 drought from April to September. 1985 was a miserable year except for the indian summer in October. Seems normal to me over the last 30 years.

Alibaba

theaceofspies wrote: »

Snow on the Sleve Mish mountains in Kerry today (no kidding). It's going to be a scorcher of a summer.

Up to 20 degrees next weekend.

Heard it here first... According to Accuweather

gozunda

Alibaba wrote: »

Up to 20 degrees next weekend.

Heard it here first...

This morning ok with some sunny spells. Then hailstones - cold wind and showers for the rest. Temperatures right down this evening. Not growing weather....

Defunkd

Say my name wrote: »

The Chinese are the biggest polluters in the world. They've destroyed their own farmland and resorted to buying land abroad. But they finally copped on that they can't go on the way they were going on though. They are stopping imports of western rubbish and are it seems trying to get their act together. But don't forget UN money is going towards their "green" projects when they have perfectly enough finances to fund their own projects.
I'm not a Trump supporter but the man's not a complete fool. Although he acts like one.

Climate change has always happened since the earth was formed. I'd actually be a big supporter of carbon trading and carbon capture and storage especially from the financial side of being a farmer/landowner.
As I said before though if more carbon in the atmosphere is creating a greenhouse effect. We could be very thankful of that especially in our northern hemisphere winters till maybe 30 years time when some think this Sun minimum will go back to maximum again. Then we'll have to worry about that extra carbon in the atmosphere.
Carbon is not the cause of Ophelia or the blizzards or this prolonged spell imo.
We've had this weather in Ireland before and way back into history and pre history.

The chinese are also midway through the largest plantation ever known to man. To stop the spread of the Gobi desert, a green belt - according to one source that i can't confirm - 4,000km by 1,500 (85 times the size of the Rep of Ireland) is being planted with grasses, shrubs and trees. Either 66 billion plants is the target or it is what they're currently at. Chinese efficiency means that quantity is preferred to quality: seeding is often carried out from aircraft with medium to low success rates. I've no problem with the UN or World Bank co-funding such projects since we'll all benefit.

We are so flipping small, geographically and numerically, that our efforts aren't going to make a difference. A map/atlas doesn't show the scale of countries, eg; Brazil is 100 times bigger than us and their forests, and all equatorial forests, are vastly more important than our paltry hedgeplanting and recycling efforts. I'm not recommending to burn your old tyres, etc but people need to be realistic about the good they do by planting a tree or using "recyclable" material.