Tag Archives: silage

Shannon Airport has pledged its support to farmers battling the current fodder crisis by offering to repeat its intervention of 2013 when it harvested silage from its 400 acre site. The Airport’s operations team will meet with farm representatives over the coming days to explore the need to fast-track cutting of grass on the airport grounds in light of the severe difficulties faced by many farmers due to the prolonged inclement winter and spring weather. The airport’s grass husbandry programme is not due to see any grass inside the airport perimeter cut until later in the summer, but in light of the shortages, the airport is offering to bring it forward to support local farmers. Five years ago, in late April, farmers received 1,600 bales of silage from the airport in what was then the most severe fodder crisis in living memory. Airport operations director Niall Maloney said,“Farmers were in difficulty back then and, having seen just how important our …

Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) has issued an appeal to farmers to be vigilant when harvesting silage and spreading slurry to avoid water pollution. Silage operations are ongoing all summer and silage effluent has the potential to cause devastating pollution in streams and rivers. Silage effluent is one of the most polluting substances to threaten the environment and can cause massive fish kills if it enters a watercourse. Slurry spread on grassland over the summer months can also wipe out fish and invertebrate life if allowed to enter a stream. Water levels in streams and rivers are low in the summer months and have less dilution capacity, so are particularly vulnerable to pollution at this time. Dr Greg Forde, head of operations at IFI, said, “The fisheries service is appealing to all farmers and contractors to be careful that no silage effluent is allowed to run off into drains or watercourses. Round bales are the most environmentally friendly way to store …

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) and the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) have urged road users to take extra care as the number of tractors, trailers and other farm machinery using the roads increases. The appeal comes as farmers avail of the improved weather conditions to bring in silage. In an effort to raise awareness of the likely increase in agricultural traffic using the roads and the need for all road users to take extra care, the RSA and IFA will be broadcasting their 30-second radio advert on national and local media this week. The advert reminds all drivers and those driving agricultural vehicles to use common sense and share the road responsibly. Moyagh Murdock, CEO, SRA, said “This is a busy time of year for farmers. The number of tractors and trailers out using the roads will increase dramatically over the next few weeks. As a result the risk of a collision involving a road user and farm machinery will …