Pink silage bales may catch on – in a good cause

A LEAVING CERT student from Ballyforan in Galway is hoping to start a trend for the summer in the West, with pink wrap replacing the traditional black bales across the region.

Rachel Hastings (18), who has just completed her Leaving Cert. at the Convent of Mercy in Roscommon, wants farmers to ‘go pink’, to help raise funds for the Irish Cancer Society.

“A while back, I saw a picture in the Irish Farmers Journal of the pink wrap, with €2 from each box of wrap going to the Irish Cancer Society.

“However, when I checked out if the pink wrap could be got here in the West, it just wasn’t available in the co-ops – only Dairygold down south were supplying it,” Rachel told the Farming Tribune.

However not to be outdone, Rachel contacted Dairygold and got a special courier delivery of the pink wrap for this year’s silage made on the family for them by local contractors, John and Tom Kennedy.

Rachel is now hoping that co-ops in counties like Galway and Roscommon will start to stock the pink wrap – she feels that many farmers would pay the extra €2 a bale to support cancer research.

Wrap costs in the region of €82 to €86 a box. “This year alone, Dairygold have ‘sold out’ 16,000 boxes of the pink wrap resulting in a contribution of €32,000 to the Irish Cancer Society.

“I think that there are many farmers across the West who wouldn’t mind paying the extra €2 for the pink wrap in support of a good cause.

“We probably have the first pink wraps in the West this year but we’re hoping that next year the pink wrap will be available for purchase in the co-ops across counties like Galway and Roscommon,” said Rachel.

Although from the parish of Ballyforan, the Hastings actually live ‘on the Galway side of the bridge’ that marks out the border between Roscommon and Galway.