Welsh farmer battles to survive drought

World
Europe

The UK government has promised to support farmers impacted by this summer's dry weather. The announcement comes after an emergency drought summit held by the National Farmers' Union in London.

This summer is difficult for Abi Reader who milks 180 cows at Goldsland Farm in South Wales.

"I haven't seen the farm this dry ever. I think the last time we had a very dry period of time on the farm was 1976 which is before I was born. My father said it was extremely dry but now I think it is worse," said Abi.

Welsh farmers use winter feed to feed cows due to grass shortage. /CGTN Photo‍

By this time of the year, the pasture should be lush and green for the cows to enjoy grazing but the problem is that it has instead become very short as result of the dry weather, and it is not growing fast enough to meet demand.

Abi has to find other ways to keep her animals feed and it costs her an extra 275 US dollars. She just made a difficult decision to send some poor performing cows to slaughter in order to reduce her feed costs.

"It is just not ideal for milking cows at all. It needs a while to recover. We are looking at an incredibly short grass. Normally it would be at least the height of my hand. We are obviously looking at very short grass here. The rooting system underneath is starting to die."

The shortage of grass is causing problems for farmers in the UK. /CGTN Photo

Farmers usually cut grass several times in summer to make silages and preserve them for winter usage. But this year the shortage of grass means that they have to feed their animals on winter supplies.

Farmers in Wales have to use silage that should be stored for winter. /CGTN Photo

"I don't know how many bales are left there because I am scared to count them now. But that stack there was twice as big at the end of June than it is now because we are eating into it every day," said Abi's uncle Robert.

"We normally go into the winter with about 1,200 wrap bales of silage. How many wrap bales we have got left? I dread to think but I should think it is less than 200."

Weather forecasters are predicting that dry conditions may continue in the UK. It could be serious concerns for many farmers because when winter comes, there won't be enough animal feed stored.

(Cover: Dairy Farmer Abi Reader milks 180 cows at Goldsland Farm in South Wales. /CGTN Photo)