Experts say prolonged dry weather is now becoming a regular challenge for dairy farms, leaving grass scorched, cattle heat-stressed and farmers relying on winter feed months earlier than planned.
“What we used to think of as extreme weather, we increasingly consider as normal.” says Mike Kendon, a climate scientist at the Met Office., external
In Somerset, farmers have described this as the worst drought in 50 years, leaving crops struggling.
“Look at this stemmy nonsense,” says Woolford, holding a bunch of thin grass towards me.
“There’s no leaf to it, they don’t get any nutritional quality from this rubbish.”
His family have farmed dairy cows just outside Swindon for five generations.
They have seen hot summers and wet ones, but now Woolford, aged 20, and his dad and grandad have noticed a permanent change in the weather.
“We’re praying it’s not going to become the new norm,” he says.
“But it looks like it will recur.
“It’s really tough. The cows don’t enjoy it, we’re down on milk production by 20%, we just need some rain for the grass.”
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