This year’s biggest working vintage event will be the Silage Extravaganza 2015, which will be hosted on Sunday 26 July by Coolmoyne and Moyglass Vintage Club at the Trehy farm in Mobarne, near Moyglass, Fethard, Co Tipperary.

This year’s event follows on from two trial runs held at the Trehy farm last year and the organising committee is confident of pulling off a crowd-pleasing national event this year. The proceeds from the event will go to support the South Tipperary Hospice.

The Silage Extravaganza aims to create a world record for the highest number of double-chop silage harvesters working at one time. The event will also showcase silage trailers built by Waterford man Paddy Lee of Lee Trailers, with a large display from the 1960s up to modern versions.

The double-chop harvester display will include models from the 1960s when the concept was introduced to Ireland. There were at least eight makes sold here, including Gehl, Gyro, JF, Kidd, New Holland, Taarup, Ylo and the Irish-made Tullow double-chop. Machines from all of these brands will be in action on the day.

As well as the double-chop record, there will be silage-cutting displays from single-chop and precision-chop silage harvesters. Among the machines on view will be a number of early single-chops from the green Taarup/John Deere models and spanning all makes since the early 1960s.

Among the precision-chop silage harvesters expected on the day will be the unique American-built Hesston Field Queen, sold in Ireland for a period in the 1970s.

The Hesston 4000 self-propelled silage harvester was the first machine in the range, sold by Irish Agricultural Machinery, then based at 12 Upper Abbey Street, Dublin, which introduced it at the Spring Show in 1974.

It was rated to harvest 100t of grass per hour and was powered by a 200hp V8 Caterpillar engine. The chopper had large-diameter spiral knives, hydrostatic drive and front-wheel steering.

This machine was joined by the side-tipping Hesston Field Queen, a high-performance machine that was prone to tipping over more than its hopper when operated on sloping fields. An example of this latter machine, restored by Martin O’Sullivan from Innishannon, Co Cork, will be in action at the Silage Extravaganza.

In all, it is expected that there will be more than 100 harvesters in action on the day. Vintage silage enthusiast Jimmy Cotter, who has been involved with the event since its inception, said that there will be more than 60 double-chops, 16 single-chops, up to five self-propelled machines and six trailed precision-chop harvesters in action on the 70-acre site.

The Lee Trailers range will be another significant focus of the event. Over the past two months, large numbers of Lee trailers have been refurbished at farmyards across the country. Founder of Lee Trailers Paddy Lee be a special guest, officially opening the event at 2pm.

A group from the Dunmore Vintage Club, which staged its own challenge in 2014, will be driving in convoy, complete with silage harvesters, from north Galway to join with the event. They will be met by the Coolmoyne and Moyglass group at the Horse and Jockey and escorted to the site on the day before the event.

Jimmy Cotter and Kieran O’Donoghue have been closely associated with the event since it was first mooted at a meeting with Seamus Barry and Pat Loughnan of the Coolmoyne and Moyglass Vintage Club.

Jimmy hosted the launch of the Silage Extravaganza 2015 event back in June, with a big turnout of harvesters and Lee trailers.

In the intervening weeks, both Jimmy and Kieran have worked through their contacts to get as many machines as possible to the event. Among those travelling will be John Dan O’Hare from Banbridge, Co Down, with his restored New Holland silage harvester, and Michael Hoey with his Ford tractor and New Holland trailed harvester combination.

The farm

The Trehy farm, the site for the vintage silage harvesting event, is just 10km from the Horse and Jockey exit on the M8 motorway, according to Matty Tynan, chair of the local committee.

Joe Trehy and his family are enthusiastic about the event. “We had allocated 50 acres of grass originally for the event and with the huge response from machine owners, we have increased that to 70 acres,” said Joe.

Joe and his family run a 70-cow suckler herd and have been planning their grazing programme around the event for the past year. The cows and calves will be moved to the furthest extreme of the farm for the event, to allow the tractors and trailers to move with ease and safety.

There will be three loaders on the silage pits to prevent any blockages and the aim is to have all of the silage harvested by the end of a very exciting day.

Joe is a vintage machinery enthusiast and enjoys making his own silage most years with a slightly older double-chop silage harvester. “The event will start at 11am when single-chops, precision-chops, silage wagons and self-propelled silage harvesters, dating from the 1960s to the 1980s, will start to operate,” said Matty Tynan. “The double-chop and Lee Trailer challenge will begin at 2pm,” he added.

Lee Trailers

The Lee Trailer has an important place in the history of farm mechanisation in Ireland. Paddy Lee, founder of Lee Trailers, established the business in 1963, making car trailers. He soon saw the opportunity for bigger tractor trailers as tractor sizes started to grow.

He started his business in High Street, Waterford, and then moved to Summerhill, before moving to a bigger premises at Lower Grange on the outskirts of the city.

Over more than 50 years in the trailer business, Paddy said that he has built in excess of 3,500 Lee trailers.

A testimony to his expertise is the fact that many of them are still in use today.

Paddy was a creative engineer and developed many trailer ideas, some of which he patented. He produced a 3t capacity three-way hydraulic tipping trailer in the 1960s and introduced automatic tailgate and drawbar skid systems during that time.

All trailers were made with larch timber floors and sides, which were planed smooth to allow for easy tipping of silage loads.

Paddy said of his trailers that they “were made to last and to please”.

The trailers offered the option of new or reconditioned truck axles, to suit the needs of farmers and contractors at the time.

“We sold most of our trailers in the Munster region and along the east coast of Ireland. Brakes and lights were extras during the early days and they became standard features as trailers got bigger,” said Paddy.

Paddy introduced the Lee high-lift tipping trailer at the 1974 RDS Spring Show. It was a 5t-capacity trailer and the first Irish-built one of its type. He produced a slurry tanker in 1988 and did not pursue this as the market soon became uncompetitive.

Paddy’s work in the tractor trailer business will be recognised by the large turnout of trailers on the day, which were “all manufactured under his personal supervision with satisfaction guaranteed”.

Date Event Location Contact

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19 July Crossgar & District Road Run Down 0044-7752475879

19 July Lakeland Vintage Car Run Longford 087-6649069

19 July Mogeely Vintage Tractor Run Cork 087-2508690

19 July Beara Vintage Club Road Run Cork 083-1979207

19 July Mayo North Field Day Crossmolina, Mayo 087-9701714

19 July Dromone Fun Run Oldcastle, Meath 087-2516771

19 July Kilmeaden Vintage Tractor Run Waterford 087-2216589

19 July Craanford Vintage Rally & Field Day Wexford 087-2317020

22 July Ballymoney Old Vehicle Club Display Armoy, Antrim 0044-7960130030

23 July Temple & District Vintage event Boardmills, Lisburn 028/048-90812025

24-26 July Ballincollig Vintage Club Annual Show Cork 087-9096616

25 July Claragh Bridge Vintage Show Drumaroad, Down 028/048-44811269

25 July Cloughmills Vintage Club Road Run Antrim 0044-07934534199

25-26 July Coolmoyne & Moyglass Silage Extravaganza Tipperary 086-2547162

26 July Askamore Vintage car and tractor run Wexford 087-2685791

26 July Courtnacuddy Vintage Day Wexford 087-3151257

26 July Iveragh Vintage Rally Waterville, Kerry 086-6038800

26 July Mountbellew Vintage Rally Galway 086-2429581

26 July Rod Iron Vintage Club Rally Mullinavat, Kilkenny 086-8372607

26 July Ballinrostig Vintage Field Day Whitegate, Cork 087-9974619

31 July Drive to Survive Model T challenge Cork 086-254 9014