Defra: How to deal with this summer's dry weather

With predicted heat waves due over the coming weeks, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is advising farmers how to deal with the impacts of dry weather.

According to Defra, Spring 2025 was the driest across England since 1893, with the country receiving well below the average rainfall.

The recent rainfall at the start of June helped increase river flows briefly but these have since quickly receded, and soils are much drier than expected across most of England, the department said.

In light of the dry spring, there has been a greater demand on farm irrigation reservoirs, especially where there have been restrictions on abstraction licences.

The early start of the irrigation season and increased demand on reservoirs has depleted storage capacities over the spring, Defra said.

If the dry weather continues for the summer, it could cause resilience issues for irrigators where storage reservoirs are running low.

According to Defra, the impacts of the dry weather are can already be seen across the sector with reduced growth on crops that do not have access to irrigation and less well-established spring crops.

Impacts on the livestock sector have also been reported, particularly in relation to reduced grass growth which could impact on winter feed supplies later in the year.

Managing dry grassland

For farms that do not have access to irrigation, soil moisture will rapidly drop, impacting grass growth across the country.

The priority now should be to reduce daily grass demand to below daily growth rate, in order to hold grass covers across the farm.

Farmers should be altering their rotation length to suit grass growth, aiming for 20-25 day rotations, with 4-5%of the grazing platform grazed daily.

Farms must also be maintaining post-grazing residuals of 4-4.5cm to prevent feed waste and ensure strong recovery post drought.

Managing livestock

Many farms may need to be feeding supplementary forage during the day or increase parlour-fed concentrates. It is reasonable to feed up to 5kg for a brief period.

Farmers must ensure they are reducing the feeding rates of concentrates two to three days after grass growth recovery.

During this heat, water availability to livestock is critical. As heat stress kicks in, water consumption is the quickest way to reduce their core body temperature.

Mature cattle will drink up to 60L of water a day, while weanlings will drink over 30L.

Shade is another vital component for livestock during extreme heat. During heatwaves, aim to have your livestock in fields with good tree cover or adequate hedge that they can use for shelter.

If a a farmer is moving animals, recommends to do so in the early morning or late evening to avoid unnecessary stress on the animals.

Below is a list indications of how livestock populations will be affected by warmer temperatures: