Lenehan's Contractors in Maugherow, Co Sligo, were busy baling hay during last week's fine spell of weather.

After a very quiet summer on the hay front, father and son duo Marty and Conor Lenehan have baled between 400 and 500 bales in the last 10 days.

"We done very little hay this year and anything we saved earlier on was only OK. I'm actually after coming back from doing hay this minute, I'm after doing 65 bales of hay for a fella.

"It was cut Tuesday or Wednesday last week and it's good dry stuff," Marty Lenehan told the Irish Farmers Journal on Monday 23 September.

Lenehan said that there were five consecutive weeks this summer where there was only two days' contracting work to be done as a result of the poor grass growth.

'Worst weeks'

"The three weeks in June last year saved a lot of people, especially in the west. What got done in three weeks last wasn't done this year.

"We didn't have three weeks in June this year - they were probably the worst weeks in terms of growth.

"We got some first cuts this year, but not half as much as we did the year before. The grass just wasn't ready, growth was very poor and that wasn't just in the west, it was all over Ireland.

"I never saw a tougher year for grass - the weather was too cold this year. Last year might have been wet, but it was still mild and the grass was still growing," Lenehan said.

Lenehan covers north Sligo and down as far as Elphin, doing around 12,000 bales per year.