Silage season consists of long days and hard work for an agricultural contractor, but also some craic amongst those in the fields.

This week, Agriland caught up with brothers Pairic Kelly and Thomas Kelly who are the core of their Co. Tipperary-based business, along with Bill Ryan as they were baling silage near the racecourse in Thurles during the spell of fine weather.

Pairic is contracting for the last 30 years – something he “more or less fell into”.

“I did a degree in agricultural engineering in the UK and when I came back there wasn’t a lot of jobs around to suit that, so I started buying machinery and doing work for local farmers and it grew from there.”

He said his own father had an interest in machinery which is where his passion came from.

'One of the most hectic weeks'

Pairic said this has been "one of the most hectic weeks we've had ever" because of the recent wet weather.

"We've been baling from early to late - we try to work daylight hours," he told Agriland.

"We'd probably have 5,000 bales knocked out this week."

The day for Pairic starts with getting the machinery ready, and getting the team out of the yard.

"We're very dependant on the weather," he said.

"We need to get the silage reasonably dry. You're looking at a three-day window for mowing, to either ted or rake the following day, and then bale it and draw it in.

"You want three good days together to get silage done."

He said grass this year is not overly heavy - "it's just right for balers".

Thomas Kelly spoke to Agriland mid-job raking.

He said on these days, they "try to get going as early as we can".

Thomas' wife is a dairy farmer and they have three children, so life is full-on for them, especially this time of the year.

Understanding

Most farmers are understanding of the pressures contractors are under and give plenty of notice for when the services are needed, according to Pairic Kelly.

He said due to the quality of his machinery, capacity is high.

"We can knock out 60 bales an hour with each baler, if conditions are right," Pairic said.

He said the business has the same core customers each year, with about 30 for baling and silage, so "we know what's coming down the line" as the season approaches.

Fuel is a big cost this year for the business, especially due to increases as a result of the war in Iran, along with the cost of labour.

Pairic said contracting has changed hugely over the years, from the impact of environmental rules to the prices of machinery which have "gone through the roof".

However, the machinery also has "improved ten-fold".

"We do get through more work alright but it is hard - you have to get through a certain amount of work done to cover the payments and whatnot."

He said "output has probably doubled" with better machinery.

Despite the pressure, Pairic said that when the sun is shining and everyone is in good form, the team has a "good bit of craic" with each other.