James Spillane farms near Conna village in East Cork. James and his daughter Rachel have a dairy farming partnership and milk 120 Friesian cows. Milk is supplied to TirLán Co-Op and their herd is both autumn and spring calving but they are moving to a 100% spring calving herd.
Unlike most other milk producers, the Spillane family do not conserve any pit silage but make all baled silage. James says he prefers baled silage because it is of better quality.
Their local silage contractor is Eddie and Gavin Hartnett who bale and wrap around 800 bales for them every year using the Film & Film system and a McHale Fusion integrated baler wrapper.
Film & Film wrapping is an innovative dual wrapping method, which combines the use of SilotitePro1800 balewrap and Baletite netwrap replacement film. This results in better shaped, denser and more compact bales which can better withstand handling.
“We have been using this system exclusively for the last two years and are very happy with silage quality. Indeed we have not had one bad bale,” says James. No need to worry about mouldy silage and the bales keep well during storage.
The Spillane family purchase their Baletite and SilotitePro1800 from McDonnell Bros their local Agri merchants. Bales are stacked three high on the concrete and two high on the gravel. James uses a bale shear to feed out the silage.
Using Baletite film instead of netwrap helps to keep the silage from becoming enmeshed during feedout.
Feeding out the silage is quicker and recycling is much easier as there is no need to keep the Baletite separate as with netwrap.
