Nearly 45% of all farmers in the south region of Ireland are without sufficient winter feed.

New figures from the 2024 Teagasc fodder survey update show that, nationally, only 62% of farms have fully secured their winter feed including one month reserve, with a further 18% showing deficits of more than 10% of feed requirements.

The data is taken from around 650 farms across the country and is a follow-up to a survey in late June.

With this deficit, 50% of respondents have already taken action to secure additional forage, while 60% of farmers intended to reduce stock to lower feed demand.

Commenting on the results, Teagasc ruminant nutrition specialist Aisling Claffey said there remains a significant number of farms with shortage issues.

“We encourage all farmers to complete a fodder budget for their farm if they have not already done so; take early and appropriate action to secure fodder and/or reduce demand.

“It is important to test silage quality and prioritise the best-quality silage for freshly calved cows and young growing stock. If lower grade forage is bought, ensure this is fed to cows during the dry period and reserve the better-quality silage for next spring.”

Improvements

Feed stocks have improved, as approximately 25% of Teagasc farmer clients were at significant risk of feed deficits in June, which is down to only around 18% now, while only 6% are at a serious deficit of more than 20%.

However, with some of these farms already feeding silage due to lower than target grass covers, there is concern that such deficits could well increase before normal winter housing date.

In addition, around 30% of respondents expected to have cashflow issues over the winter period as a result of having to purchase additional feed.

Teagasc’s head of advisory services Tom Curran said a significant proportion of farms need to be watchful of winter feed stocks in the coming weeks and months.

“The options to fix shortages are better value and more plentiful, if early action is taken.”

Regions

The south region of the country has proved to be the worst affected, with only 55% of dairy farms and only 59% of dry stock farms having sufficient feed in the region.

However, the midlands northeast has the largest number of drystock farmers with major deficits in their feed requirements at 10% and only 55% of dairy farmers in the region have sufficient levels.

On the other end of the scale, drystock farmers in the northwest have the highest levels of winter feed at 74%, while, in dairy, 64% of southeast farms have sufficient feed.

“We encourage all farmers to do their own individual fodder budget to assess the situation on their own farm, and to assess appropriate diet formulations based on silage quality and feeding value,” added Curran.