First fodder shipment arrives in Ireland to help beleaguered farmers

More than 2,500 tonnes of animal feed has arrived in the country via Rosslare Harbour to help deal with the current fodder crisis that is being experienced by farmers across Ireland. Due to the deplorable weather over the last number of months, many farmers have been left without feed for their cattle who have had to be kept indoors due to the heavy rain in recent weeks. The large shipment of fodder has been delivered to the Dairygold co-op, though it will only be distributed to farmers across the Munster region. It will be distributed at cost price to farmers. The haylage has been sent from the UK, but other options to source feed for farmers' animals have been explored, such as setting up a system where farmers with leftover feed can be included in a database to sell at a reasonable price to farmers in need. “We have no doubt that this imported fodder is essential. Unfortunately, ground temperatures and grass growth remain well below normal for this time of year so at this point in time it’s difficult to know when dairy farmers will be in a position to return to grazing.”