Farmers will be required to strap loads of bales for all road journeys. This news, which will shock farmers and contractors, emerged from an information and demonstration seminar held on the premises of Robert O’Shea in Littleton, Co Tipperary, last week.

While it has long been standard practice to strap loads of hay and straw for road journeys, silage bales were typically carried one high and two abreast, sometimes with a middle upper row, which if anything usually anchored the load. Farmers will fear that being required to strap down freshly wrapped bales will damage the seal of the wrap. A single strap along a single upper row will suffice.

The proliferation of baler/wrapper machines rules out the option of carrying the bales from the field along the road unwrapped and strapped, and then wrapping prior to stacking in the farmyard.

Trailer court case

Meanwhile, Tipperaryman Damien Cahalane of Ballyluskey, Ardcroney, Nenagh, has been charged with a number of offences after he was stopped by gardaí when driving a John Deere tractor pulling a 16.5m-long three-axle trailer in June 2015.

Mr Cahalane, who was delivering straw to Balla Mart, contested the charges, which included dangerous driving, failing to produce a C driving licence, using a vehicle without a roadworthiness certificate, having a trailer uncoupled by a secondary coupling device, and not having a tachograph fitted.

The court was told that new regulations regarding the use of agricultural vehicles were only introduced on 1 January 2016. The prosecuting Garda Michael Mullaney said that Mr Cahalane was 114km from his home, outside the 100km limit for agricultural vehicles. Judge Mary Devins told the Castlebar District Court she would give her decision on 21 June.