Nailing down drivers for the upcoming silage season was all the talk this week at Grass 2026 in Kilkenny.

Everywhere you went there were contractors bemoaning the dearth of drivers and wondering who they were going to get to pilot their machines through May and June.

“I have every young lad and lassie in the place asked,” The Dealer overheard one contractor comment. “I have everyone around me at home asked – bar the parish priest. And I’ll be asking him after mass on Sunday if things don’t improve,” said his colleague.

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“I’d be going to confession Friday evening if I was you and asking him inside in the box. Because he could be snapped up by Sunday, the way things are going,” a third man advised.