When it comes to making silage this year, the message from Teagasc is 'quality over quantity'.

A discussion on silage making and focusing on quality over quantity came about during a sheep grass-walk held on the farm of PJ Finnerty in Co. Roscommon.

In light of the high fertiliser and concentrate costs, some farmers this year may have been planning to focus on bulk over quality when it came to making silage, to ensure that enough fodder is in the yard come next winter.

However, the message from Teagasc advisors at the event was to focus on quality when making first-cut silage this May/early June, as opposed to quantity.

The advice was: "For first-cut silage at least anyway, quality over quantity should be the focus; target the end of May into even the start of June, when grass is leafy and before it has headed out.

Backing up this point of quality over quantity, one farmer in attendance said:

"That extra feed you gain by focusing on bulk rather than quality could end up being poorer quality feed then come next winter, you could be forking into the wheelbarrow and out of the shed into a waste pile because it's just not good enough to feed out.

"Instead, you're better off with fewer bales, but bales of silage that are good quality where there isn't any waste."