Cattle farmers on the Cooley peninsula have been given a lifeline by a donation of 400 tonnes of silage from a Drogheda farmer just before they ran out of fodder. "It came in the nick of time, we were 48 hours from running out," said Mr Seamus Savage, who farms on the Cooley mountains. He lost 130 sheep and lambs to the cull but hopes he can hold on to his 175-head dairy herd. They are restricted to a shed and adjoining field. Foot-and-mouth restrictions meant that silage in Louth was running low, so the intervention of Mr Paul Murray, who donated the nutritious mixture of grass and molasses, was crucial. "We have had a very long winter and the grass is short; there is no heat for it to grow so this was a godsend. I got 20 tonnes," a delighted Mr Savage said.
The emergency response was organised by the Irish Farmers' Association in Louth. Mr Savage and six other farmers told the IFA of their difficulties last Friday. By Saturday morning, with the help of the community in Cooley and Mr Murray, the silage was delivered.