The dry weather has had a ‘catastrophic’ effect on the farm
A farmer says the dry weather is having a “catastrophic” effect on produce – with the lack of rain causing a “massive cost” to the farm. England has experienced its driest July on record, with only 1.99mm of rainfall this month.
The dry weather is hitting farms hard, with the lack of rain meaning grass is not growing in fields and animals aren’t able to feed on what they normally would. One farm feeling the effects of the dry weather is Moor Farm in Newborough, near Peterborough.
Owner Judith Jacobs said the dry weather has had a “catastrophic” effect. Judith said: “This is the driest weather since 1976 I believe, and I remember that being a very dry summer. The current impact on us is in various directions. Everywhere is brown and tinder dry – hardly any green or fresh grass.
As a result, the farm is having to feed their sheep more. Judith is feeding the sheep mixed wheat and roughage, as well as hay and straw as sheep need a high fibre diet. Judith said this is causing a “massive cost” to the farm.
She added: “For example the cows. Cows are ruminant, so they’ve got four stomachs and they live on forage. There is nothing for them in our fields, so for some of them, we are feeding them hay, straw and again, round wheat. That’s eking into our profits because at this time of year, they should be eating grass.”
The farm has around 200 cows. Due to them not having enough room for all of the cows, they’ve had to transfer 50 of them to the RSPB washes for additional grazing. “This is an additional cost that I wouldn’t normally have if it wasn’t such dry weather,” said Judith.
Judith is also having to give the cows some of the winter feed. She said: “That’s a double-edge sword. We haven’t been able to make feed for a normal winter. We are probably at 60 per cent of our stored forage and we’re already feeding that. So it’s a negative.”
The dry weather has also meant there have been more field fires across Cambridgeshire. Moor Farm has recently experienced three deliberate fires on its land.
This has been “time consuming and costly” for the farm as well. Judith added: “[They make us] very nervous, because it’s income, our machinery and also our time.”
There was recently a fire in Peakirk that the farm helped to put out. Judith said: “That was raging towards Peakirk and Glinton. It’s a very stressful situation as you would imagine and it’s costly. We pay wages to our staff, so that’s a lot of hours.”
Judith is encouraging people to be vigilant when in the countryside to prevent the risk of a fire. She added: “For the general public, I would advise them if you’re going to the countryside, use it wisely. Do not drop litter, definitely don’t smoke. And if you see a fire, either deal with it or ring 999.”
You must be logged in to post a comment Login