Farmers and producers hoping to capitalise on increased interest in British produce in the wake of ‘Horsegate’ now fear they will miss out as the cold weather kills off livestock, drives up feed bills, delays planting and slashes yields.
Already cash-strapped after last year’s weather washout and high feed prices, farmers in many parts of the UK were this week battling to keep their animals alive, and running up higher feed bills while they were unable to graze.
Rich Clothier, MD of Wyke Farms, said dairy farmers had already spent a lot on extra feed to keep milk volumes up in 2012 in the face of wet weather and problems with forage availability.
cold snap: how the snow is affecting farmers across the UK
Lamb
The snow has killed lambs and ewes in many areas. Feed costs have soared, with some farmers reporting they are having to spend as much as an extra 36p per lamb per day.
Dairy
Milk yields are down and feed costs up as the weather stops cows from grazing. One farmer said his 400-cow herd was costing an extra £1,000 a day in feed concentrate.
Wheat
Growers’ hopes of making up for reduced drilling last autumn have been dashed by this week’s cold snap. Arable crops such as wheat as well as forage crops are being affected.
Asparagus
The crop is up to four weeks late, dramatically reducing the British asparagus season. Retailers said they were also increasingly concerned about new potatoes.
With forage planting now further delayed, the milk supply situation in the UK was “on a knife’s edge”, he warned.
“We could be looking at proper shortages,” he said. “The sad thing is, there is bigger demand for British-made products because of the horsemeat scandal, and we may not be able to meet that.”
With lambing season underway, sheep farmers have been hit especially hard by this week’s snow. “A lamb is the most vulnerable livestock you can have at a time like this, so we’re hearing about quite a few lambs - and sheep - lost,” said NFU chief livestock adviser Pete Garbutt.
Beef farmers were facing less acute problems in terms of keeping stock alive, but had to spend extra money on feed. “Putting weight on and finishing them is taking longer,” added Graham Redman, a partner at farming consultants The Andersons Centre.
Meanwhile, growers of arable and forage crops, as well as veg such as asparagus and potatoes, have been hit by delays to planting schedules. “We reckon we’re three to four weeks late and with a short, 10-week season that’s dramatic,” said Chris Chinn, a partner at asparagus supplier Cobrey Farms. The main outdoor crop would typically be ready in early April, but was not likely to go into stores until the end of the month, he added.
On the meat side, there could be problems with availability in the short term, said Garbutt. Farmers would be able to meet increased demand for British meat if they were given price incentives, he added, but there were concerns consumers could be put off buying it if weather problems resulted in significantly higher prices.
“Hopefully, given recent events, consumers will remember the benefits of buying British meat from shorter supply chains,” he said.
Redman warned that availability and price pressures could affect the value end of the market, but said there would still be a good market for British products at the top end.
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