Meath Farm Machinery open day this weekend

FTMTA member firm, Meath Farm Machinery, will hold an open day at its premises at Kilberry, Navan, Co Meath, on Saturday 21 April, to launch the appointment of the business as a dealer for the Kramer range of telehandlers. The open day will run from 11am to 6pm and will feature the official launch of Kramer at Meath Farm Machinery with a variety of models including the KT276, KT357, KT557 and KL30.5T machines available to view.

There will also be a used machinery sale, a range of new equipment from John Deere and other suppliers to Meath Farm Machinery and demonstrations of John Deere Agricultural Management Solutions (AMS). There will be special parts promotions on the day, as well as €200 off any new John Deere ride-on mower purchased. The event will also celebrate 100 years of John Deere tractors. Light refreshments will be available and all are welcome.

FTMTA Grass & Muck preparations

Site preparations are moving up a gear in advance of FTMTA Grass & Muck at Gurteen College on 17 May. This week saw work begin on the construction of a new farm road, which will facilitate easy visitor access from the visitor car park to the entrance to the event.

With the addition of a considerable further grass demonstration area to the event this year, the public entrance has been relocated to a position closer to Gurteen Cross on the Birr to Nenagh road. No visitor vehicles will be allowed to travel towards the college from Gurteen Cross and all will be directed into the new car park from where access to the site will be via the new farm road.

The new car park should make arriving at and leaving the site much easier for visitors and is a necessary measure to deal with the growing numbers coming to FTMTA Grass & Muck over the years. The event has grown considerably since it was first held in 2010 and the site infrastructure has been developed over time in line with this growth.

Gurteen College is nearing completion of an impressive new milking parlour and dairy building to accommodate the college’s expanding dairy enterprise into the future. The new complex is located adjacent to the silage pits where the loading machine demos are always a very popular feature of FTMTA Grass & Muck.

It is hoped that it will be possible to offer tours of the new milking facilities during the day of the event, which will add an interesting extra dimension to what is already sure to be a busy and very worthwhile day for visitors.

Grass growth on site has continued to respond well to the improving weather conditions with good cover in evidence across the site and coming on more each day.

The benefits of the fertiliser and slurry spread on the grass demonstration areas earlier in the spring, while slow in becoming obvious due to the lengthy spell of cold and wet weather, are now apparent as the ground finally warms up.

Online tickets sales are available from a link via www.ftmta.ie and are proving popular with intending visitors.

FTMTA encourages all those planning to attend to avail of the savings offered with the online tickets available at €15 each until the Friday prior to the event, 11 May, which is a saving of €5 on the price after that date and on the day.