For its autumn trip of 1999 the North Down Grassland Management Team went on a cross border venture to the farms of Eric Wilson who farms near Castlederg in County Tyrone and to Malcolm Cooper who farms near Castlefin in County Donegal. The farm has seen a lot of development over the past few years with cow number having expanded from 25 to 67. This expansion has necessitated upgrading and expansion of buildings and the purchase of more milk quota. Boumatic Milking Parlour needed to cope with the dramatic increase in cow numbers .
All silage is made in big bales.
This has several advantages. At a time where capital investment is required elsewhere on the farm this avoids the need to build an expensive silo. Small amounts of silage are cut as grass growth exceeds demand. This means that all silage is very good quality. With no large areas cut at any one time shortages of grass available for grazing are unlikely and grass quality is increased.