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The good spell of dry and sunny weather this week saw Philip Heary Agricultural Contractors start cutting silage at Dublin Airport.
Heary is one of a number of contractors cutting 200-230ac of grass for silage at the airfield this week and has been cutting silage at the airport for the past number of years.
He told the Irish Farmers Journal that it’s a serious operation that’s going on this week at the airport.
“We’re working here at the rear of Dublin Airport and ensiling the silage into [farmer] Gerard Monks’ silage pits.
“It’s being cut in conjunction with Alan McCartney Ltd from the north of Kells. It’s a serious operation that goes on here. People say to me ‘how did you get into silage?’
“I’m from the town, I didn’t own land, I couldn’t own land and I’m 31 years at the silage this year.”
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal this week, chief communications officer with the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), Paul O’Kane, said that one-third of the airfield is cut every year.
“The grass is topped six times a year and one-third of the grass is cut for silage every year.
“The grass we have here is Italian ryegrass, which grows tall – this is what we want because birds are a hazard and they don’t like the long grass.
“The entire site is 670ac and the piece of the airfield that’s being cut is in the region of 200-230ac.”
O’Kane said that the section of the airfield that is being cut at the moment is around the crosswind runway, known as runway 16/34, and this runway is used if the main runway is closed or there are certain winds blowing.
On security at the airport, all the machinery used to cut the silage goes through a secure channel and security badges are given to everyone involved in the operation, he said.
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