Know your silage machinery costs

In advance of the silage-cutting season, FCI national chair John Sheehy urges all contractors to take time to assess their costs to establish the level of profitability that they need for their silage harvesting enterprises. Establishing the costs associated with running a contracting business is vital to sustain modern contractor machinery fleets.

The cost components include machinery, fuel and labour, with depreciation of machinery the most significant cost.

This cost will be determined by the value of the machinery in the fleet, based on their age, etc.

FCI creates new committee groups

At the recent meeting of the FCI National Council, there were a number of committees elected to progress the activities of the association. The aim of the committee structure is to allow busy contractors who are officers of the association to get support.

There were four committees formed: finance and management, safety, membership/development and events/education. The following were the elected members of the committees:

Finance/management

  • Chair: John Sheehy, FCI chairman; Christopher Weldon, Meath; and Martin Fleming, Galway.

    • Safety committee

  • Chair: Timmy O’Brien; Shane Nolan, Galway; and Roger Perry, Kildare.

    • Membership/development

  • Chair: Peter Farrelly; Padraig O’Brien, Tipperary; and John Hughes, Kilkenny.

    • Events/education

  • Chair: Norman Egar; Richard White, Tipperary; and Gerard O’Donoghue, Limerick.

    • FCI AGM

    The annual general meeting of the FCI will take place this Thursday 30 April at the Maldron Medway Hotel, Portlaoise, at 8pm.

    The AGM will include a review of activities for 2014 and the election of officers for the 2015.