Drought 2020

Buford T. Justice XIX

_Brian wrote: »

Do you have a link for that.
I was looking one day and just gave up.

I took it from the Met twitter account, tbh. I can't follow the site since they changed it around a while back.

Base price

_Brian wrote: »

Do you have a link for that.
I was looking one day and just gave up.

Here - https://www.met.ie/climate/available-data/monthly-data
Click on "Climate" scroll down and you see daily, monthly, historical etc data.

Dozer1

It can rain now

patsy_mccabe

Isn't it just mad that we are looking for rain in early May? I need it here soon or the rushes will start dying.

CloughCasey1

Dozer1 wrote: »

It can rain now

You may get the watering can ; )

Cavanjack

tanko wrote: »

Did you not get the rain yesterday evening or the heavy rain about a week or so ago?

There was a bit of rain one day a week ago alright but it dried up as quick as it fell. The ground round here is like a rock.

Dozer1

Dug a big dyke in it 2 weeks ago water still flowing...but yea might need the watering can in a few weeks 😀

CloughCasey1 wrote: »

You may get the watering can ; )

Dickie10

tillage ground either side of me here is in serious need of rain, large patches have failed already, i think its barley. oil seed rape doing well though.

ruwithme

Grass will eventually work out grand in time. it's the important tillage crops in various parts of the country I'd be concerned about. conditions need to be right from the get go.

Cavanjack

tanko wrote: »

Did you not get the rain yesterday evening or the heavy rain about a week or so ago?

There was a bit of rain one day a week ago alright but it dried up as quick as it fell. The ground round here is like a rock.

greenfield21

We can only hope everyone will get their WBC in before the rain. See a neighbour here got bogged down this Eve and had to get a excavator so ground still fairly damp. Also take a moment for silage gougers who are still trying to sell last winters bales.

ruwithme

greenfield21 wrote: »

We can only hope everyone will get their WBC in before the rain. See a neighbour here got bogged down this Eve and had to get a excavator so ground still fairly damp. Also take a moment for silage gougers who are still trying to sell last winters bales.

Bogged down??? jayus i can't believe that. only young cut rushes growing round here the likes of it not seen for most folks memory anyway.

what country? sorry county?

kk.man

Long term forecasts saying rain will come in ten days from now sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

kk.man

kk.man wrote: »

Long term forecasts saying rain will come in ten days from now sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Lads lose the run of themselves, rain us never far away on this island.

lab man

greenfield21 wrote:

We can only hope everyone will get their WBC in before the rain. See a neighbour here got bogged down this Eve and had to get a excavator so ground still fairly damp. Also take a moment for silage gougers who are still trying to sell last winters bales.

whatdo you mean by silage gougers?

Gillespy

kk.man wrote: »

Long term forecasts saying rain will come in ten days from now sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

2018 was like that. Weeks on end of promised rain kept being pushed back.

I'm not comparing the two or complaining. This is perfect weather for us here. Forecasting a nice sup this evening then plan is silage and slurry out before that rain day 10.

Aravo

greenfield21 wrote: »

We can only hope everyone will get their WBC in before the rain. See a neighbour here got bogged down this Eve and had to get a excavator so ground still fairly damp. Also take a moment for silage gougers who are still trying to sell last winters bales.

What was this great field used for prior to Glas. Sounds like it's a piece of bog. Loads of contractors hate WBC, being sent into a very wet, boggy piece of land and getting stuck. And then if there was an inspection, every reason under the sun as to why the WBC didn't grow would be given, still looking for the euros.

Mortelaro

kk.man wrote: »

Long term forecasts saying rain will come in ten days from now sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Theres no such thing as long term forecast

SouthWesterly

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

I took it from the Met twitter account, tbh. I can't follow the site since they changed it around a while back.

We've had 2mm in the last week.
Saw a nice mist over your place this morning. This morning was a day I wished I was in it

farawaygrass

kk.man wrote: »

Long term forecasts saying rain will come in ten days from now sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

I find met Éireann aren’t much good predicting part two days. I seen the forecast for the week ahead is for eastern wind, which is worrying to see at this stage. Grass very slow now. Last evening was the first proper grass day in a long time, it was very close.

endainoz

Timmaay wrote: »

I considered that here before (Esp as we experience droughts about 1 in 3 summers here), however the conclusion I came to was that that I'd lose far more during the normal wet periods than I'd gain in them few droughts. If we are in for alot more regular summer 2018, then yep it might be worth consideration, however in the likes of the north island in NZ where they experience droughts regularly they have still stuck with the monocultures, and instead usually go down the irrigation road.

That's exactly the point though, diverse awards can be true for opposite conditions of drought, making ground much more resilient to poaching and water logging. The idea of going down the irrigation route in Ireland sounds a bit ridiculous to me.

Gawddawggonnit

endainoz wrote: »

That's exactly the point though, diverse awards can be true for opposite conditions of drought, making ground much more resilient to poaching and water logging. The idea of going down the irrigation route in Ireland sounds a bit ridiculous to me.

Ryegrass monocultures are useless in dry situations. Multi species work particularly well with/without irrigation in dry situations.

endainoz

For sure, it's almost as if teagasc are giving incorrect advice by pushing ryegrass and loading nitrogen into it. :rolleyes:

Robson99

Anyone else finding there meadows underperforming ?

Neddyusa

Robson99 wrote: »

Anyone else finding there meadows underperforming ?

Anything closed up since winter is doing Ok, maybe a week behind normal, but anything grazed in spring is going to be a long time bulking up.

jimini0

Robson99 wrote: »

Anyone else finding there meadows underperforming ?

I wish I had fertiliser out 3 weeks earlier. I would be making hay now. Hopefully in 3 weeks the weather will be like this

Danzy

Robson99 wrote: »

Anyone else finding there meadows underperforming ?

Yes, even when shook and in some cases, generously so.

Trees are 2 weeks behind here, never mind grass.

Danzy

endainoz wrote: »

For sure, it's almost as if teagasc are giving incorrect advice by pushing ryegrass and loading nitrogen into it. :rolleyes:

No but ryegrass and 21 day grazing certainly are hit harder in drier weather.

That's a species issue in its root depth and how its roots die back after a tight grazing, up to 90% after a silage cut.

Teagasc do a lot of good work but there is a one cap fits all approach while.

People have to take bits of systems that fit their land, system and needs.

GrasstoMilk

Robson99 wrote: »

Anyone else finding there meadows underperforming ?

Picked 30 acres today for milkers. 25 x 22ft silage trailer loads off it. Surprised how heavy it was. Not grazed
Mowed yesterday

ted_182

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Picked 30 acres today for milkers. 25 x 22ft silage trailer loads off it. Surprised how heavy it was. Not grazed
Mowed yesterday

Baled 17 acs today, same as you not grazed, near 11 bales to the acre, mowed and tedded yesterday so got a nice wilt, i was shocked, i would have thought 7 max, wont be much good for milkers at that yield i feel

A lot of thunder rain this evening.

SouthWesterly

Having had only 5mm this month, we had 20mm in an hour this afternoon.
Was very welcome.

Tileman

SouthWesterly wrote: »

Having had only 5mm this month, we had 20mm in an hour this afternoon.
Was very welcome.

Yea we had a few very heavy showers yesterday evening. You can see everything growing this morning.

_Brian

Had an hour of soft rain yesterday evening and than half hour again this morning.
Should help, put out some fert yesterday on few paddocks to keep grass going.

keepalive213

Boggy land doing ok here, still seems to put up grass with minimal rainfall.
Banks land (machair) is starting to burn up already.
Another week of northerly winds and no rain on the way, i hope the stalks of my apocalypse potatoes dont get burnt.
Turf home last Friday, only 3 weeks 3 days cut and bone dry.

Reggie.

keepalive213 wrote: »

Boggy land doing ok here, still seems to put up grass with minimal rainfall.
Banks land (machair) is starting to burn up already.
Another week of northerly winds and no rain on the way, i hope the stalks of my apocalypse potatoes dont get burnt.
Turf home last Friday, only 3 weeks 3 days cut and bone dry.

Still talk from MT cranium about next week becoming unsettled after the weekend

Jeo John

Only getting rain in spots in the west nothing worth taking about great turf weather that's about it .The trouble is when it starts raining it probably won't stop

80sDiesel

I am happy not to have much rain. Sowed 20 kilos of wildflowers into an unimproved upland meadow. Low grass growth helps the wildflower seedlings compete for light.

farawaygrass

80sDiesel wrote: »

I am happy not to have much rain. Sowed 20 kilos of wildflowers into an unimproved upland meadow. Low grass growth helps the wildflower seedlings compete for light.

Is there much maintenance with them at the start? Did you burn off the grass first or just spread the seed?

80sDiesel

farawaygrass wrote: »

Is there much maintenance with them at the start? Did you burn off the grass first or just spread the seed?

Ideally you would want to start with a place that has the old style finer grass and a low base fertility. The wildflowers should exist with grass giving you the old style species rich meadows.

Can Recommend this for info https://youtu.be/rKzE5t8Zkzc

endainoz

80sDiesel wrote: »

I am happy not to have much rain. Sowed 20 kilos of wildflowers into an unimproved upland meadow. Low grass growth helps the wildflower seedlings compete for light.

What was your sowing method? Was the field grazed when you did it? Very interested in how people are going back to the wild flower meadow's!

80sDiesel

endainoz wrote: »

What was your sowing method? Was the field grazed when you did it? Very interested in how people are going back to the wild flower meadow's!

Sowed by hand. Doesn’t take long. I have a flail mower collector so used that cut the field as don’t have animals.
Ideally you would want to let things grow before you sow so you can see what existing species you may have. I had self heal. Sorrel. Plantain, bird foots trefoil etc and many species of native grasses so had a good base.

Base price

_Brian wrote: »

Had an hour of soft rain yesterday evening and than half hour again this morning.
Should help, put out some fert yesterday on few paddocks to keep grass going.

Not a drop fell here and we're about 7 miles from you as the crow flies.

Danzy

Spoke to a neighbour today, well, he is a mile away, he had no rain, I had an inch in an hour yesterday evening.

endainoz

Another dry week ahead, lads will be starting to panic soon. There should be a good bit of fodder around the place all the time though, at least there is here.

kollegeknight

Not much rain fall at all here but a lot of the land still wet.

Timmaay

endainoz wrote: »

Another dry week ahead, lads will be starting to panic soon. There should be a good bit of fodder around the place all the time though, at least there is here.

Bought in a crop of 1st cut, and trying to sort grazing to get the heifers off the milking block, growth is still ahead of demand (gr 65 demand 55), however not a drop of rain on yr.no here up until the 19th at least, so I'd expect growth to be well behind demand towards the end of the month. But thankfully very little issues sorting fodder or grazing, plenty of beef lads just didn't bother with anything this year.

Birdnuts

endainoz wrote: »

Another dry week ahead, lads will be starting to panic soon. There should be a good bit of fodder around the place all the time though, at least there is here.

It will become critical if some of the more accurate longer range forecasts for a flaming June hit the spot - highlights again the lack of resilience in the heavy input, mono-culture ryegrass model pushed by Teagasc et al. I remember the last drought in summer 2018 and the most resiliant swards were natural covers on callow land

Bleating Lamb

Very little rain in NW since Mid March.Land was swimming then,unusually dry now.No real regrowth anywhere that was grazed tight in early April.

kevthegaff

No rain here and in south tipp big rain fell in cashel yesterday