I know its tough for campers to have rain on an August bank holiday weekend but it was so needed.
We had a dry spring and exceptionally low rainfall in June, July and August and officially in drought status since the end of July. For a farmer this means that the grass doesn’t grow. We cut haylage in May and then expect everything to grow back so we can graze the goats all summer and autumn and also take a second cut from certain fields. Nothing has grown except some weeds which have very little nutrition. We’ve managed to keep the goats outside and have moved them around, hoping that eventually some rain will come to get things growing again. But we’ve also had to top them up with haylage made in May which is meant to be their winter feed.
At the moment we don’t know if we’ll have enough winter feed which means buying in (more expense) or whether this rain will give us the boost it needs and maybe we’ll manage to get a second cut from some fields.
So, whilst I’m sorry for our campers, I’m also really relieved to see some rain.