Agricultural contractors are losing up to a fifth of their working time dealing with the damage caused by stones and wires in fields, the Association of Farm and Forestry Contractors in Ireland (FCI) has said.
Michael Moroney, the association’s research director, raised the issue during a meeting of the National Fodder and Food Security Committee (NFFSC) yesterday (Monday, July 8).
He said that 100 FCI members who took part in a recent survey all reported issues with winter fodder stocks on either their own farms or client’s farms.
Contractors
Moroney also said FCI members have experienced a lot of problems with stones and wires on land they were working on this year.
“Certainly that didn’t help in terms of people achieving efficiency and getting the work done. There was a lot of holdups in fields this year that shouldn’t have happened.
“We are aware of the fact that March and April was a difficult time in terms of land rolling, but some farmers seemed to be able to achieve it and other farmers weren’t.
“The end result of that is, we could lose up to 20% time on that and that’s 20ac a day less silage harvested because you spend half your time taking wire out of machines, whether it’s balers, or mowers, or silage wagons.
“You spent the rest of your time taking [out] stones and picking stones,” he said.
Costs
Moroney said that issues with land management across the country have not only resulted in delays, but significant costs.
“This country has a high level of insurance costs within agriculture, and in particular within agricultural contracting,” he said.
The meeting heard that some FCI members are paying insurance fees of up to €1,000/week which is “not helped if they have to deal with the consequences of breakages”.
Moroney also highlighted that slurry had been spread in poor ground conditions on some farms with no rolling or aftercare taking place. This meant that contractors were “using their mowers as land leveling devices”.
“Farmers need to be aware of this and need to take some level of responsibility in terms of this.
“If I’m a contractor and I’m delayed by 20% of the time, that means I can’t go to the next farm, that means that next farm after that is held up as well.
“It’s important to consider everybody else in the link and that’s why some more land management needs to be done, and the concept of rolling is really important,” he said.
Moroney also said that contractors, like farmers, are conscious of cash flow this year. He appealed to farmers to avail of the financial options available to them to ensure contractors can be fully paid.