Farmers were urged yesterday to be particularly careful in managing silage effluent during the current spell of harvesting which will see 65 per cent of the crop harvested over the next few weeks.
Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority, asked farmers to take special care of the effluent which can cause serious pollution to water schemes and fish stocks if not handled properly.
Pádraig O'Kiely, a research scientist with Teagasc, said handling the effluent from silage when it is compressed in pits created a real challenge for farmers, especially if the grass was wet.
"It can cause severe damage to water quality if it is not run off into storage tanks from where it can be spread at appropriate rates with slurry spreaders.
"It can also be fed directly to stock but it must be kept away from watercourses as it can cause serious pollution and fish kills," Dr O'Kiely said.
Irish Farmers Association environment committee chairman Tom Dunne said directly ensiled grass can produce peak effluent flows of up to 30 litres per tonne per day for the first few days after ensiling.
"Farmers need to be extra vigilant at silage time to ensure effluent collection tanks do not overflow, and for a number of days after ensiling grass to ensure collection channels and drains are working properly. He said tanks and drains should be inspected after ensiling.