Grass around the island may have returned to its usual green after this year’s drought, but Manx farms continue to struggle ahead of winter.

The Manx National Farmers’ Union says that although farmers are ’much happier now that the grass is green again’ they are still facing a recovery time of three years due to the 12-week dry spell between May and August.

relief

Union general secretary Andrew Cooper said: ’August was a great relief for the whole industry as it really helped grasslands to recover.

’There are good stocks of grass on fields, however, those stocks are being eaten up quickly to make up for cost production over the summer months.

’Most farmers are preparing for a deficit in winter food stores and bedding stores. The shortage in bedding stores is due to poor growth of spring barley and wheat.

’The implications of shortage of food and bedding could be affecting farmers for the next three years. Due to lack of alternatives it has to be imported with a heavy shipping charge from the Steam Packet.’

Although the union has investigated alternatives for bedding, such as bracken and paper that can be accessed on-island, they have been warned against this due to a risk of cross-contamination and other health issues.

An example is that bracken could contain carcinogens.

’It’s a little bit frustrating,’ Andrew admitted.

The price of hay bales have dropped slightly since the drought, says the union, but are averaging £20-£50 each compared to the normal £10-£15 price range.

’On the back of that, the cost of food [in supermarkets] isn’t going to go up,’ Andrew said.

’Everyone’s confident that agriculture will continue. The problems caused by the drought are not going to put people out of business, but in more debt.’

Some farmers have resorted to selling their livestock to the UK due to the extra pressures brought on by the drought.

Clare Lewis from Isle of Man Goats says she has sold 10% of her breeding stock since the drought hit.

The Kirk Michael farm has about 200 goats.

She said: ’The drought is having a lasting impact unfortunately and it continues to be very tough for Manx farmers.

’The stream most of our animals drink from isn’t back to how it should be, even after all this rain. There’s plenty of grass but it’s not growing hard now.

’The public thinks that because we’ve had rain and because the grass in green there are no problems. The price of food is up by 20% and we’ve already reduced our herd and continue to reduce it just to get through. We’re not the only ones.

’You can always breed numbers again, not immediately, but it’s no good having animals you cannot feed through the winter.

’It’s all hard decisions,’ she added.

Ms Lewis said the ’main heartache’ was that the kids born on the farm this year ’haven’t had the best start in life’ as their mothers had no grass to graze on during the summer.

’We have had lots of top quality hay, but the mothers want grass and so the kids just aren’t where they should be which pushes us back,’ she said.

’It means the stock are going to take longer to nurture. We’re already seeing stock more prone to illness.’

She added: ’The Manx National Farmers’ Union continues to be a major support to Manx farmers. It’s like being a part of a club and everybody understands how tough it is.

’If farmers could control the weather, we’d all be billionaires. We’ll all get through it, but we need people to support local.’