The heavy impact of the spring fodder shortage on southern counties is clear from the 211 applications from Co Cork in the fodder transport support measure, out of a total of 534 applications.

Everyone is keeping their fingers crossed that they can make it through to the summer, writes Stephen Cadogan.

Fianna Fáil says the government has ignored warnings from the farming community about the developing fodder crisis.

Fianna Fáil will bring a motion before the Dáil and Seanad tomorrow calling for the Government to step up its efforts to deal with the fodder crisis.

By Stephen Cadogan

By Stephen Cadogan

By Stephen Cadogan

An investigation of why feed ran out in 2013 and again in 2017 is needed, writes Stephen Cadogan.

By Denis Lehane

British farmers are raising concerns about the amount of fodder being imported into Ireland during the current feed crisis.

Latest: The first emergency batch of animal feed has arrived at Rosslare Port this morning.

The imported fodder transport scheme has been extended for another two weeks and the fund doubled to €2m.

Retail chain SuperValu has partnered with food processors Kepak and Oliver Carty Ltd to create a €250,000 fund aimed at assisting farmers to purchase fodder.

The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) has put together a €1m fund to assist members through the fodder crisis.

Motorists are asked to be patient this weekend as agri co-op trucks deliver urgently needed hay and other animal feed to farms nationwide.

Shannon Airport has moved to assist farmers severely affected by the fodder crisis by donating up to 1,000 bales of silage from its 300-acre landbank.

Debt-ridden farmers affected by the animal fodder crisis will be assisted by the Department of Agriculture in securing feed.

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney was yesterday criticised for failing to apply for emergency aid from the EU’s Solidarity Fund to help alleviate the fodder crisis.

Farmers have welcomed the commitment by dairy co-ops and the Department of Agriculture to substantially increase the volume of fodder imports over the short-to-medium term.

To the dispassionate observer, the stark fact that every week 10 people in Ireland die by suicide is a statistic.

A dairy farmer yesterday spoke of the “mental torture” of watching cattle starve to death.

The fodder crisis could hit farming as hard as the foot and mouth disease outbreak which gripped the nation over a decade ago, a farming leader has warned.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin wants the Government to recognise that fodder shortages have reached national emergency status, and to introduce measures to relieve pressure on farmers.

A county councillor who has lost seven cattle to starvation this spring believes many farmers, worse off than himself, may take their lives if the fodder crisis is not addressed quickly.