The drought during the summer 2018 has had a huge impact on most Nordic dairy farms. Many farms were lacking silage and needed to buy extra feed. Some have compensated by cutting grain as a whole crop, but they had to take the cost of buying grain at very high prices. During and after the summer, many farmers discussed the topic of water: they talked about water for irrigation, but also about ensuring access to drinking water for the animals. With increasing herd size, the pressure on the individual wells became quite high. In most parts of Nordic countries, farmers are used to having good access to water, but with climate change this may not be the situation of the future.
Read more:
https://www.maitoyrittajat.fi/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/dairy-situation-REPORT-2019.pdf
Watch a short video “Swedish farmers in distress due to a historic drought”: