A big cost is the loss of silage in storage

Cattle, dairy cows and sheep numbers have increased significantly so we need more silage now than we did some years ago.

The December 2011 CSO livestock survey shows that the number of sheep increased by 6.4% or almost 200,000 over the previous year.

Dairy cows increased by 28,400 and male and female cattle under one year increased by 116,000 and 57,400 respectively so we definitely need more silage. Grass growth has not been great at times this year and obviously there are more livestock to graze what is available.