Signpost: 'A disaster is the only way to describe the weather'

 Ciaran Bartley on his farm at Caherconlish, Co Limerick. 'I do not think I will ever target stocking my farm over 170kg of organic nitrogen and enter derogation. The risk is too high in a wet year.' Picture: Dan Linehan

This year is turning into a repeat of last spring again for me with ground completely saturated in March and now into April. A disaster is the only way to describe it. So far I have turned 10 yearlings out on my driest ground. I had intended to turn out 66 more yearlings on easter Monday but the forecast ahead put paid to that.

I have some extremely heavy covers of grass on my driest ground with some exceeding nearly 3000kg DM/ha at this stage. The way things are looking I will be baling up a lot of these covers once ground dries. I don’t see this as a negative as I have a demand for all top-quality silage and I know any silage cut in April or into May will be in excess of 75% dmd.