With silage and baling season now well underway, some of West Cork’s agricutural contractors give an insight into life behind the wheel during their busiest time of the year
‘IT might be just a half a day’s work for us, but it’s something that’s providing an entire season’s feed for the farmer so it’s not something we take lightly.’
So says one of West Cork’s leading agri contractors Micheal O’Mahony who is not quite making hay while the sun shines, but is cutting as much grass as he can.
‘Without a doubt, this is the busiest time of the year for us between silage cutting and baling,’ said the Kilbrittain man, who was speaking to The Southern Star last week during a very brief break from mowing.
The numbers reflect the scale of their operation. Along with his father Tony, they have a crew of around 12-15 men behind the wheel of farm machinery at the moment to cater for the needs of their 70 farmer customers who are located between Ballinhassig and the Old Head of Kinsale, and out to Clonakilty.
Silage cutting started two weeks earlier than usual this year, explained Micheal.
‘We’d usually start cutting on May 10th, but we got underway on May 1st this year and that was good news for us. Because the weather had been so dry, crops weren’t as heavy and the grass was younger as well, meaning conditions overall were better,’ he said.
He’d be familiar with his workload from year to year: ‘Generally speaking we know what’s in front of us, and know what’s going to be booked in.
How I work it is through a WhatsApp group which I share with the office to say who is booked in and who is going where, and I also use a diary to keep a handle on things,’ he said.
Agricultural contractor Barry O’Sullivan pictured earlier this year with his John Deere 6155R tractor and a Rauch 30.2 spreader with full GPS and section control. (Photo: Andy GIbson)
The ideal situation is when his crew can move into an area and cut several farms there, but a lot depends on a farmer’s preparedness, for example when he last spread fertiliser.
‘But because the weather has been so good we’re not under pressure at all which is a welcome change,’ he said.
Micheal (46) has been working in the family business since he was 16, along with his brothers Sean and Diarmuid; and his father Tony has been at the helm for over 50 years. Suffice to say they’ve ‘acres’ of experience between them, and are not afraid to move with the times.
Investment in machinery is crucial, even if it’s financially daunting at times says Micheal who stresses how important it is to change machinery every two to three years: ‘We simply could not lose any time to breakdowns.’
This season he’ll mainly be found behind the wheel of a Krone Big M, a self-propelled mower he bought this year at a cost of €400,000.
It can cut at least 200 acres a day, compared to a mower on a tractor doing only two thirds of that.
Precision agricultural technology on board some of their machinery, supplied by Vantage Ireland, includes GPS technology, options to record data for individual fields, recommend travel speeds etc.
Their business has enough machinery for two crews which brings great confidence to the customer, and makes them very agile in terms of responding to weather conditions.
‘We have two harvesters, two loaders, eight trailers, three rakes and up to 20 tractors,’ he said.
‘No two years are the same when it comes to the weather so having that equipment, and being able to draw extra crew from other areas of our business is great as it can be a stressful experience at times for farmers. When you think about it, the half a day’s work we do for them represents their entire feed.’ Micheal said he gets great satisfaction from the work, which despite the advancements in technology still requires great skill:
‘I really enjoy it. It’s something you’re born into really and it’s not something you’d be doing for the money, but I love it.’
Covid temporarily stopped the age-old West Cork tradition of silage cutters being fed by the farmer, regardless of the time of day or night. ‘That’s come back a bit now alright and it’s always appreciated. A lot of our customers would be people we’d call friends, we’d have seen their families grow up and have built up great relationships with them over the years.’
Meanwhile, agri contractor Barry O’Sullivan, Leap was bitten by the baling bug as a teen.
‘I’d have started out back in 2005 working for a contractor during the school holidays, which was around 20 years ago now. I went out on my own in 2020, and I haven’t looked back.’
Like Micheal, it’s his busiest time of the year. A day could typically start at 6am and he might still be going strong at 11pm that night.
Investment in machinery is a huge part of the business and this year they have invested in a new mower worth in the region of €400,000.
‘When the weather is good you have to be prepared to put the hours in and give that service to your customers,’ said Barry who at this time of the year works with his team of around five.
Their service includes mowing, raking, baling and stacking for farmers around the coastal parts of Rosscarbery, Leap and Ardfield; and also spreading fertiliser.
It’s a scenic part of West Cork but the terrain can be challenging, and notwithstanding his top quality machinery and GPS technology which he uses when spreading fertiliser, there’s still a high level of skill required when you’re behind the wheel.
‘Not all the land would be flat, there’s plenty of steep terrain or the ground could be wet,’ he said.
Road safety is also a priority for both contractors.
‘It’s a busy time of the year and you have to take things handy,’ said Barry. ‘
It’s important that your crew have that experience behind the wheel.’
And while planning is crucial, you have to be flexible, and be prepared to react to whatever the day throws at you, he said.
‘It’s the nature of the game that things change, it could be the weather, or a farmer mightn’t be ready for you, so you have to think fast and keep things moving,’ he said.
He genuinely loves what he does for a living: ‘Probably the most rewarding thing of all about is it customers’ satisfaction and the fact that they ask you back again speaks for itself.’
