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Farm Tech Talk – Entitlements, Bord Bia and poor weather

February 20, 2026·57 min·5 clips

Adam reveals why the IFA-Bord Bia standoff has no clear resolution, leaving farmers in limbo.

Eight weeks in, dry days are hard to come by. The opening runs through a miserable stretch of rainfall, from daily rain at Valentia Observatory in Kerry to Johnstown Castle reaching 230% of its long-term January average. Dublin Airport is in the mix too, with its wettest start to the year since records began in 1941. Northern Ireland is described as having its wettest January in 149 years. So this is not weather chat for the sake of it. It is the thing shaping the farm week. The cows still need managing. The first answer is silage: if it has to go in, put it in and work from there. On-off grazing is worth a go where the ground allows it, but the advice does not pretend every farm can make it work. If it works, great. If it does not, it is back to silage and a couple of kilos of meal. The bigger aim is to be ready. With a good share of cows calved, farms need to be set up to grab any late-February or early-March dry spell. When the chance comes, graze hard. The reason is simple: if the first rotation is not cleared, the second rotation will be short of grass. Cost sits under the whole discussion. Extra silage and meal hurt when grass is the plan, especially with milk price described as low. Still, the message is not to sit and wait. Take silage out when weather allows, keep meal low, and send cows to grass hungry. Dry ground matters. Even on wet farms, the advice assumes there is usually some higher or drier area that can take light grazing. Getting through those covers has value, because once grass is grazed, it should start growing better. The close turns to Grass 2026. It is described as a national grass and silage demonstration, with latest kit working, silage making stages, pit and bale handling, and a trade village for farmers, contractors, and machinery operators.

As heard by us

Practical weather talk with useful grassland advice and a steady sense of what the farm needs next.

Farm Tech Talk keeps its attention on the weather pressure facing the farm and the next practical move. The grazing advice is the clearest part, because it stays grounded in silage, meal, on-off grazing, and the push to get cows onto grass when a dry spell arrives.

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Why you'd press play

Need straight talk on getting grass back into cows after a miserable start to the year?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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