HEAVY RAINFALL across the county has led to farming difficulties that cannot be tackled until the weather dries up, according to the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmer’s Association (ICSA). The association have called for leniency in farm inspections carried out by the Department of Agriculture, because of these difficulties.
ICSA President Gabriel Gilmartin said “meeting the required standard under these weather conditions will be extremely difficult and I would really hope that the inspectors recognise this when they visit farms.”
Common weather related problems included high levels of poaching, heavy crops of rushes and full slurry tanks due to the land being too wet to spread. These can all lead to penalties during a regular inspection.
Mr Gilmartin recognized the plight of the farmers who “are under huge pressure just getting their work done on a day-to-day basis with the amount of rain we’re getting.  I am appealing to the inspectors, with their knowledge of farming, to take the effect of the bad weather into account.”