The crisis in farming is palpable, says Tim O'Leary, chairman of the Irish Farmers' Association in Cork. People are losing money, but more than that, they are losing confidence. "At the end of the day, the loss of confidence may be the worst thing of all," he adds.
"The immediate crisis is that cattle prices are on the floor. Any business is prepared to take a knock, a loss or a bad year, but recent weather conditions and what seems to be looming because of the CAP reforms - Agenda 2000 - has put the tin hat on it.
"It's hard to see where the future lies. Numbers attending the agricultural colleges are down and it doesn't appear as if they will be rising in the near future. Youngsters in farm families are looking elsewhere. No question about it, the biggest problem is the drop in cattle prices."
Dan O'Riordan, a public relations officer with the IFA in Co Cork, farms more than 100 acres near Millstreet. They are a typical farming family, in that his wife and four children help out when they can.
He knows the fodder crisis at first hand, not because it is hitting his farm, but because he is liaising between farmers who are suffering and those who may be able to help out. "I'm in the lucky position that I rented extra land last spring so that I have sufficient fodder. The fodder problem is one thing but the cattle price collapse is another. "Things are so bad that I believe we will see an increasing number of part-time farmers. I think that's the big worry."
Billy Nicholson, who works 320 acres high above Cork Harbour, at Crosshaven, says he was born to farm. It is in his blood. His grandfather started the farm, and his father, Rex, now 83, still likes to help. He and his wife, Olga, have three children, Simon (17), Elaine (16) and Niall (9). The lack of confidence in agriculture is getting to Simon, who sees no future in farming. He believes his career may lie elsewhere. His father says: "I'm still making a living, I can still put bread and butter on the table, but my biggest problem is to replace machinery. I have a 10-year-old tractor that needs replacing. The way things are, I can't do it.
"That's what hits me worst of all. The returns are not there to replace sheds, machinery or concrete in the yard, which is eroding because of cattle urinating on it. I wouldn't take any joy in going back to the old method of farming, involving galvanised roofing held together by ropes.
"Fodder is not a problem here. In the past week we sent bales off to help alleviate the plight of north Cork farmers who are working with soggier, heavier soil."
He also has winter and spring barley, as well as spring wheat and sugar beet. The weather has a huge influence on margins and, although profits have been falling, the tillage side is still above the red line.
"I am worried, though, about the CAP reform proposals and what they will mean. For a farmer like me, the proposals now being advanced in Europe could mean a drop of 38 per cent in beef and 20 per cent in tillage.
"Having said that, I'm still hopeful. I want to stay farming because I'm born to it. I love nothing better than to get up in the morning and do what needs to be done. Lately it's been depressing to talk to so many farmers who are worried about the future. These are difficult times, there's no doubting that." The Bugler farm at Innishannon, Co Cork, extends to 131 ac res. "Yes, there is a terrible lack of confidence," says Mary Bugler. "No one knows from one month to the next what's going to happen. When the work is over on the farm nowadays you are faced by a mountain of paperwork. I'm dealing just now with a dispute over a tiny piece of land in one of my fields because of bureaucracy. As if things weren't bad enough."
The Bugler farm runs dry stock and sheep. On the sheep side, Ms Bugler says, "the reality is that we are getting prices now that we got 14 years ago. To put it mildly, the signs are not encouraging."
In Kilbrittain, Co Cork, Liam Ryan, chairman of the IFA's Pigs Committee, who has 300 sows, sells about 140 pigs a week. He has a family of six ranging from 13 to 24. There is a crisis, too, in pig-farming, he says.
"In 30 years it's never been worse. Pig farmers are taking 1977 prices for pigs produced today. The position is that it costs 41p a lb to produce 1 lb of pigmeat. At the moment, we are losing about £14 a pig." However, he has not lost all hope.
"I have a livelihood for two sons, probably, David (19) and Liam (13), who seem keen to get involved. Over the past 25 years we had a good run, but there are still worries from year to year."
With a herd of 70 dairy cows as well, his concern is that CAP reforms will lead not only to a reduction in milk quotas but prices as well. The mission of the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, he says, must be to protect all sectors in Irish farming.
As the fodder crisis developed, great solidarity was shown by other farmers, says Don McNamara, chairman of the IFA in Co Kerry. The Kerry farmers worst hit were north from Ballybunion to Moyvane and east from Knocknagashel to Rathmore.
The IFA formed local ad-hoc committees to deal with the crisis. The system was designed to allow groups of farming communities to identify their particular needs and get help. It is still in progress. Farmers from the east and the midlands weighed in with their bales to ensure that cattle were fed, and there was no overcharging just because of the shortage.
Bales which might have fetched between £25 and £30 on the open market have been made available at £12. Farmers helped one another. The fact that they are doing so and that they have to tells its own story, he adds.
A Kerry farmer, John Stack, the national vice-chairman of the IFA's Animal Health Committee, farms 125 acres in Tarbert on which he runs 42 suckler cows. He is thinking of diversifying and planting out 25 acres of the farm in spruce trees as a long-term investment. "The land cannot take the amount of rain that seems to fall around here. We've done everything. We've tried to drain it but it's been a waste of money, a waste of time.
"Farmers sometimes get too technical about things, but here's the point. Last year I was getting £500 for yearlings: this year I'm getting £100 less."
He hopes his youngest son, Paddy, will take over the farm in due course. Paddy is still a toddler and there are no guarantees.
"Things are in a mess. Something will have to be done to sort it out, otherwise farming will stop. We're scraping through but I don't know how long we can keep going. God bless and save the farmers from the east and the midlands who kept people in these parts going," he says.
Neighbouring farmers were not given to shouting it out loud, he adds, but their cattle were dying from lack of feed. In other parts, farmers were dumping dead cattle rather than paying the cost, up to £50, of having them disposed of officially.
"Twenty-five years ago this farm, comprising four holdings, gave a living to four families. Now I can't make a decent living out of the one holding. It's not because we are bad farmers. It's just that we can't do it," he says. In Listowel Kieran Carey (26) has felt the brunt of the fodder crisis. "With the export market in disarray we couldn't get rid of our cattle, and then because of the fodder problem we've had trouble feeding them. It's a case of holding on to them or selling them for practically nothing.
"One of the main factors was that the butchers and factories took advantage of the situation. We've been screwed to the floor. If cattle had a way out of the country, prices might come back," he says. Mr Carey farms his own 60 acres and has rented a further 110. "It seems to me that there's nothing in it any more except hard work."
He runs 28 sucklers, has 30 dairy cows and a milk quota of 25,000 gallons. "It's been rough going. Everything coincided with a very bad year for weather. Half the cattle in this country shouldn't be here but there seems to be no way out for them.
"I was thinking about getting married but I had to postpone it because I couldn't afford to go ahead. She'll have to wait for me for another year. If things don't improve, I'll get out definitely and I will not think twice about it. Maybe the big wheel will come around again. We'll see, but right now there's just too much sacrifice."