Farmers pleased with last week’s rain
GUERNSEY’S farmers have welcomed last week’s deluge with open arms after a dry May and June.
‘We were certainly very pleased to get this rain,’ said Julian Ogier of Le Hechet farm in Castel.
‘We have had to use winter feed recently and this wet weather will wake up the grass and we will get another round of grazing out of it.’
Guernsey’s farmers endured the hottest summer Guernsey had ever seen last year, and the sixth-driest ever recorded which greatly affected grazing, and along with problems caused by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, led to the States supporting the industry with a £486,000 injection of cash.
‘We enjoy the sunshine just like everyone else, and it’s good to see warmer weather on the horizon, that will be good for the maize and the grass,’ said Mr Ogier, who keeps 76 Guernsey cows.
‘We are really happy compared to last year, the weather has been quite kind and we’ve been able to get some of our winter feed stocks back up.’
The farm is also the island’s biggest producer of pumpkins, and opens up to the public for October in time for Halloween.
Mr Ogier said the wet start to the month has been great for the 10,000 pumpkins in his fields.
‘The rain will help swell them up and the sunshine next week will help them along, so its looking good for a fine crop,’ he said.
After the wettest March and April for 22 years, Guernsey farmers have endured a completely dry second half of May and a dry June which had less than 40% of the average rainfall.
Dave Cowley of La Gervaise Farm in St Saviour’s runs one of the largest dairy herds in Guernsey, with 150 Guernsey cows grazing across the 700-vergee farm.
He said that until last week he had been very concerned about the weather.
‘It was wet in the spring, but then that north-east wind took all that moisture out of the soil, ‘ he said.
‘Most of the grass has been grazed rather than stored.’
As well as a dairy herd, Mr Cowley is one of the island’s biggest growers of potatoes.
‘It’s been a uphill battle to keep them alive till now,’ he said.
‘Most crops grow in that top few inches of soil and as most gardeners know that has been very dry, but this rain will mean they are fine, if not a little bit late.’
