If you live in rural Ireland and love the smell of freshly cut grass, this is probably your favourite time of year. Silage season is gearing up and heading into full swing for 2025 with the distant hum of machinery being heard well into the evening and the air heady with that pleasing, summery scent.
For those wondering, silage is fermented grass which is fed to animals during the winter months. The first cut is completed in May or June, with second and, sometimes, third cuts happening in mid-summer or the early weeks of autumn. The cut grass is piled and pressed into a large pit before being covered with plastic sheeting. You’ll also see wrapped bales of silage sitting in fields.
Silage is, relatively speaking, new to Irish agriculture. In the 50s, 60s and 70s, we mostly made hay for winter feed. Silage was first introduced in the mid-1960s, but it didn’t really take off until the 1980s.
In farming families, silage is a time for “all hands on deck”. In years past, kids were pulled out of school to help their parents while friends and neighbours also helped each other during this very busy time. Today, most farms choose to outsource labour; hiring contractors to bring in their silage.
During the season, these contractors work long hours in tractors and harvesters, with little sleep. For farmers, silage is often a stressful time, even with the help of contractors. Until the silage pit is covered and sealed or bales brought in from the fields, there is little time for relaxation. However, for all the hard work, there are still moments of respite and joy, and a highlight of silage has always been the 'silage feed'. For generations, farming families have provided farm workers with hearty, home-cooked meals, packed lunches and cold drinks.
Silage cooking was borne of humble aspirations: to show gratitude to those who help keep our farms operational. However, one could argue that it also holds a significant place in Irish food culture, feminist studies and agricultural history.
Essential, unseen roles
Traditionally, the women in a farming household would prepare the silage feast. As with most aspects of history or, ‘her’ story, there are few documented accounts of women’s domestic work on Irish farms.
Dr Maura Farrell is one of Ireland’s foremost researchers on women in agriculture. She teaches at the University of Galway, where she is senior lecturer at the School of Geography, Archaeology and Irish Studies. She tells Irish Country Living that women on Irish farms have always performed essential, but frequently unseen, roles.
“Their services, which ranged from managing household chores and bookkeeping to caring for animals, milking, and feeding the family and extended farm workers, were usually unpaid and viewed as extensions of domestic obligations rather than acknowledged labour,” she explains.
“Women were rarely recognised as farmers or granted access to land ownership, decision-making authority, or government assistance, although they played a crucial part in the upkeep of the farm and family.”
Maura says that the marginalisation of Irish farm women was strengthened by our patriarchal customs and cultural standards. This has prevented their contributions from being acknowledged.
Thankfully, there is now work being done to help draw attention to and rectify this disparity – both retrospectively, to acknowledge the farming women of our past, and in modern times, for women currently working in agriculture.
“Projects such as the EU-funded Horizon Europe FLIARA [Female-Led Innovation in Agriculture and Rural Areas] project fliara.eu increasingly highlights the key work carried out by women on farms, which not only enhances the viability of the farm but also sustainably develops the broader rural community,” Maura says.
Irish Country Living has long celebrated the great work of women in agriculture – from their work on-farm to the more nuanced, but crucially important, work within farming families and the wider community. While some might consider the topic of silage cooking sexist, feeding and nurturing rural communities is a hugely important role and one which farming women have managed ably for generations. In many ways, it’s a legacy to be celebrated.
Ann Dwan is a dairy farmer from Thurles, Co Tipperary. She has been cooking silage meals for farm workers since the late 1970s. \ Janine Kennedy
Continuing the tradition
Today, you won’t see as many farming families offering a silage feed, and there are many reasons for this. The most significant is that partners of farmers now enjoy careers off-farm and have no time to help during busy periods. Farm machinery is much more efficient than it was in the past, and this means that silage isn’t as huge an undertaking as it used to be. What might have taken a week in the past now takes just one or two days.
Still, there are some – both men and women – who enjoy and continue to the tradition of the silage feed, and few contractors will refuse a home-cooked meal after a long day’s work.
Ann Dwan, from Thurles, Co Tipperary, grew up on a dairy farm where her mother always put on elaborate dinners for farm workers.
When she married her husband, Edmund, in 1978, she continued with the tradition of cooking for anyone coming to the farm for work. Today, she is widely regarded as someone who will always ensure both farm workers and visitors are well-fed.
“We’ve been dairy farming for a long time now,” she says, smiling. “My husband and myself were in it for years, and in the last number of years my son, Thomas, has taken over.”
Ann isn’t just well-known for her hospitality – in 2014, the Dwans won the National Dairy Council and Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards. Sadly, a year after their win, Edmund passed away; leaving Thomas to operate the farm with Ann’s support. Still, she recalls their win fondly, saying it was “a great experience and a busy time”.
“We had the open day at the farm, and I remember saying to our creamery that it wouldn’t be right to have a ceremony without any refreshments,” she recalls. “I don’t think any previous open days included food or drink, but I really wanted to have the refreshments there on the day. We set up a table for tea and everyone commented how nice it was to have that cup of tea after.”
When it comes to the importance of silage cooking, the driving force for Ann comes from her understanding of the contractors’ day-to-day schedules and work structures.
“We would know all of our contractors well,” she explains. “I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t feed someone working on the farm, no matter what they’d be doing.
“It’s hard to stay going all day if you haven’t got a bit of food in your tummy,” she adds. “Also, good meals help keep you awake and it’s a long day of driving for them. You’d see them in the shop; they’re buying all these energy drinks to keep them awake. They’re running on very little sleep during the season.”
If the contractors are having an early start, Ann makes a fry for their breakfast followed by a larger dinner in the late afternoon, depending on when they can stop for a break or when they finish for the day.
“You don’t know when they’ll be ready for the larger meal,” she explains. “You have to be ready for them. The weather could be fine or there could be rain coming and they’ll want to keep going, or they might be done by 2pm.
“For the main meal, I’d usually cook a chicken or beef or even lamb. I’d make a sponge or a tart, or maybe fruit and ice cream or an apple crumble. This would have been similar to what my mother cooked in the past.”
In addition to cooking, Ann would have been milking cows, feeding calves and doing other farm jobs during silage time. Farming was – and still is – her life, and it’s one she has always loved.
“I did it all,” she says. “I’d be doing everything and have all the cooking done, as well. Women always did all of these jobs and I suppose they never got the recognition they deserved.
“Still, the cooking was something I always enjoyed.
“Cooking for others makes you feel good, and the contractors appreciate it, too.”
Read more
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If you live in rural Ireland and love the smell of freshly cut grass, this is probably your favourite time of year. Silage season is gearing up and heading into full swing for 2025 with the distant hum of machinery being heard well into the evening and the air heady with that pleasing, summery scent.
For those wondering, silage is fermented grass which is fed to animals during the winter months. The first cut is completed in May or June, with second and, sometimes, third cuts happening in mid-summer or the early weeks of autumn. The cut grass is piled and pressed into a large pit before being covered with plastic sheeting. You’ll also see wrapped bales of silage sitting in fields.
Silage is, relatively speaking, new to Irish agriculture. In the 50s, 60s and 70s, we mostly made hay for winter feed. Silage was first introduced in the mid-1960s, but it didn’t really take off until the 1980s.
In farming families, silage is a time for “all hands on deck”. In years past, kids were pulled out of school to help their parents while friends and neighbours also helped each other during this very busy time. Today, most farms choose to outsource labour; hiring contractors to bring in their silage.
During the season, these contractors work long hours in tractors and harvesters, with little sleep. For farmers, silage is often a stressful time, even with the help of contractors. Until the silage pit is covered and sealed or bales brought in from the fields, there is little time for relaxation. However, for all the hard work, there are still moments of respite and joy, and a highlight of silage has always been the 'silage feed'. For generations, farming families have provided farm workers with hearty, home-cooked meals, packed lunches and cold drinks.
Silage cooking was borne of humble aspirations: to show gratitude to those who help keep our farms operational. However, one could argue that it also holds a significant place in Irish food culture, feminist studies and agricultural history.
Essential, unseen roles
Traditionally, the women in a farming household would prepare the silage feast. As with most aspects of history or, ‘her’ story, there are few documented accounts of women’s domestic work on Irish farms.
Dr Maura Farrell is one of Ireland’s foremost researchers on women in agriculture. She teaches at the University of Galway, where she is senior lecturer at the School of Geography, Archaeology and Irish Studies. She tells Irish Country Living that women on Irish farms have always performed essential, but frequently unseen, roles.
“Their services, which ranged from managing household chores and bookkeeping to caring for animals, milking, and feeding the family and extended farm workers, were usually unpaid and viewed as extensions of domestic obligations rather than acknowledged labour,” she explains.
“Women were rarely recognised as farmers or granted access to land ownership, decision-making authority, or government assistance, although they played a crucial part in the upkeep of the farm and family.”
Maura says that the marginalisation of Irish farm women was strengthened by our patriarchal customs and cultural standards. This has prevented their contributions from being acknowledged.
Thankfully, there is now work being done to help draw attention to and rectify this disparity – both retrospectively, to acknowledge the farming women of our past, and in modern times, for women currently working in agriculture.
“Projects such as the EU-funded Horizon Europe FLIARA [Female-Led Innovation in Agriculture and Rural Areas] project fliara.eu increasingly highlights the key work carried out by women on farms, which not only enhances the viability of the farm but also sustainably develops the broader rural community,” Maura says.
Irish Country Living has long celebrated the great work of women in agriculture – from their work on-farm to the more nuanced, but crucially important, work within farming families and the wider community. While some might consider the topic of silage cooking sexist, feeding and nurturing rural communities is a hugely important role and one which farming women have managed ably for generations. In many ways, it’s a legacy to be celebrated.
Ann Dwan is a dairy farmer from Thurles, Co Tipperary. She has been cooking silage meals for farm workers since the late 1970s. \ Janine Kennedy
Continuing the tradition
Today, you won’t see as many farming families offering a silage feed, and there are many reasons for this. The most significant is that partners of farmers now enjoy careers off-farm and have no time to help during busy periods. Farm machinery is much more efficient than it was in the past, and this means that silage isn’t as huge an undertaking as it used to be. What might have taken a week in the past now takes just one or two days.
Still, there are some – both men and women – who enjoy and continue to the tradition of the silage feed, and few contractors will refuse a home-cooked meal after a long day’s work.
Ann Dwan, from Thurles, Co Tipperary, grew up on a dairy farm where her mother always put on elaborate dinners for farm workers.
When she married her husband, Edmund, in 1978, she continued with the tradition of cooking for anyone coming to the farm for work. Today, she is widely regarded as someone who will always ensure both farm workers and visitors are well-fed.
“We’ve been dairy farming for a long time now,” she says, smiling. “My husband and myself were in it for years, and in the last number of years my son, Thomas, has taken over.”
Ann isn’t just well-known for her hospitality – in 2014, the Dwans won the National Dairy Council and Kerrygold Quality Milk Awards. Sadly, a year after their win, Edmund passed away; leaving Thomas to operate the farm with Ann’s support. Still, she recalls their win fondly, saying it was “a great experience and a busy time”.
“We had the open day at the farm, and I remember saying to our creamery that it wouldn’t be right to have a ceremony without any refreshments,” she recalls. “I don’t think any previous open days included food or drink, but I really wanted to have the refreshments there on the day. We set up a table for tea and everyone commented how nice it was to have that cup of tea after.”
When it comes to the importance of silage cooking, the driving force for Ann comes from her understanding of the contractors’ day-to-day schedules and work structures.
“We would know all of our contractors well,” she explains. “I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t feed someone working on the farm, no matter what they’d be doing.
“It’s hard to stay going all day if you haven’t got a bit of food in your tummy,” she adds. “Also, good meals help keep you awake and it’s a long day of driving for them. You’d see them in the shop; they’re buying all these energy drinks to keep them awake. They’re running on very little sleep during the season.”
If the contractors are having an early start, Ann makes a fry for their breakfast followed by a larger dinner in the late afternoon, depending on when they can stop for a break or when they finish for the day.
“You don’t know when they’ll be ready for the larger meal,” she explains. “You have to be ready for them. The weather could be fine or there could be rain coming and they’ll want to keep going, or they might be done by 2pm.
“For the main meal, I’d usually cook a chicken or beef or even lamb. I’d make a sponge or a tart, or maybe fruit and ice cream or an apple crumble. This would have been similar to what my mother cooked in the past.”
In addition to cooking, Ann would have been milking cows, feeding calves and doing other farm jobs during silage time. Farming was – and still is – her life, and it’s one she has always loved.
“I did it all,” she says. “I’d be doing everything and have all the cooking done, as well. Women always did all of these jobs and I suppose they never got the recognition they deserved.
“Still, the cooking was something I always enjoyed.
“Cooking for others makes you feel good, and the contractors appreciate it, too.”
Read more
We need to buy Irish now more than ever
Will you be buying fake chocolate eggs this Easter?
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