PICTURE: 'This time last year 450 bales of silage in this yard. This evening there is nine left.'

A Carlow dairy farmer has taken to social media to highlight the extent of the fodder crisis facing farmers in the county and across the South East. 

Read also: Carlow farmers to benefit from €4.2m allocated for a Fodder Import Support measure

Jordan Molloy posted a picture of an almost empty yard which boasted 450 bales of silage just a year previously and added: "Need rain in a bad way."

Long spells of drought conditions and poor grass growth this year has hit farmers' fodder supplies hard with many now trying to stockpile their supplies ahead of the winter. 

Some farmers have been using their winter fodder to feed their animals with some silage pits across the county already opened.