Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Deering will be back in a couple of minutes. I want to pass a couple of comments myself because I have to go to the Chamber to talk on a Topical Issue debate. First of all I compliment both Teagasc and ICOS for their co-ordination efforts during the fodder crisis. They were never more wanted. We are here now in the second week of May and it will be a huge battle to get enough fodder in place for the winter of 2018. There is still some tillage ground that has not been sown. We can put in crops in those areas which would greatly aid the establishment of fodder for livestock farms for the winter of 2018 to 2019. People should be advised to take up that option rather than putting in a late crop of spring barley. The economics of it could be very marginal. There will be a significant market for fodder beet or whatever other fodder crop is sown. Perhaps there could be a bit more focus on that. It might be a common-sense approach for tillage farmers. Instead of putting in a crop the viability of which would be questionable at best, they might put in crops like that.

The other thing that must be looked at is the infrastructure on dairy farms. An awful lot of our farms are fragmented. The stock of cows can be in different places. They all have to be brought to the milking platform in mid to late spring. There was a practice that the cows would be out for a certain period of the day and there was not the same pressure on the infrastructure. This spring raised huge questions. If there are problems, the infrastructure on a dairy farm has to be adequate to cater for the numbers one is dealing with. In late March and April there was huge pressure on the infrastructure. How that can be overcome without huge capital investment is a question. The way it is handled in New Zealand would not satisfy welfare requirements in this country. The cows there are really just let fend for themselves.

It is going to be a challenge and, as I said, I do not think eight weeks is attainable. Advising non-livestock farmers to play a significant role in putting that fodder in place would be a major step forward. I am going to the Chamber. Deputy Deering is here to resume the Chair. It is not that I do not want to listen to the gentlemen, but I have to go to the Chamber for a Topical Issue debate. I will be back in a few minutes.