Before we left Ireland for Scotland in mid-July, the farm was suffering from drought. There was a nervousness about it. Would it be as bad as the drought of 2018? Time would tell.

We learned a lot that year about being prepared for future droughts. Our farm is particularly dry with a shallow depth of top soil that dries out quickly. We have long narrow fields that are known as the Upper and Lower Inch and they are heavier and are difficult to manage in wet weather. In a drought situation, they are last to dry and first to come back.

Off we went on our two-week holiday hoping to hear that rain would come before we returned. Tim chatted to Colm every few days.

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There was a strategy in place.

Bales of silage would be introduced to the cows before the grass had run out. It needed to be rationed. Introducing concentrate would be the next step. Soya hulls would be the feed of choice as it was more economical than other feedstuffs.

There were a number of considerations; the cows had to be fed well, the grass had to be protected and stretched. Both were tall orders with nothing but a scorching sun coming from the skies.

Grass was melting

There was an early conversation between Tim and Colm one morning. The word from home was that everything (meaning grass) was melting. Farmers know only too well what melting grass means. It actually disappears and it’s a use-it-or-lose-it situation. It’s either wilting or going to seed. This was the scenario that Colm described. The advice from Teagasc was to graze any grass that was going backwards and mind anything still growing. If there was silage to cut, then cut it, as it would go backwards too.

Colm reported that the cows didn’t like the heat and were contrary out. They were coming up early in the morning from the paddock and doing a lot of unnecessary walking.

Meanwhile in Scotland, while there was no rain, it was lush and green. It was hard to marry the two scenarios in my head.

We came home on 28 July into Cork Airport. As we neared home, we could see the straw-coloured fields and everything was dusty. The cows were healthy and happy and had adjusted to their new diet of silage, hulls and some grass. It was strange and the nervousness remained.

Bales of silage would be introduced to the cows before the grass had run out. It needed to be rationed. Introducing concentrate would be the next step

On 3 August, the drought broke in spectacular fashion. I had decided to take bottles to the bottle bank. As I loaded the bottles into the car, I felt a few huge drops fall onto me. I wasn’t for stopping my excursion. I called Diarmuid to come with me. He felt the drops and grabbed a coat. We headed off. The rain was picking up. I expected it to stop. We had a month without rain.

We threw our bottles into the bins in Ballincollig with gusto. The relief of proper rain falling was magic – 30mm of rain fell that evening.

Gather up the bottles

The difference between 2018 and this year is that we are more prepared. We have to be – droughts have become the norm for our southern farms.

Our discussion group adviser says there are three bales of silage per cow needed: one for the spring, one for the summer drought and one for the autumn. It’s a hard ask. We had the weather and the grass yield to have it this year. But we are fast eating into that surplus.

We badly need a few days rain down here in mid-Cork. Maybe it’s time to gather up the bottles again.

It might be a lucky omen.