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Paper short abstract

This paper explores the switch from hay to silage as the dominant form of winter feed for livestock in 1960s Ireland as a deeper transformation in its energetic, economic, and ecological dynamics.

Paper long abstract

In the second half of the 20th century a silage-making revolution took hold of Irish livestock agriculture. In 1958 only two per cent of farmers made silage, hay being the dominant form of winter feed for livestock, but by the 1990s silage represented over two thirds of all winter forage made in Ireland. This switch from hay to silage was enabled by a network of intensive practices: high animal stocking rates, ryegrass dominated swards, and nitrogen fertiliser, which profoundly altered the energetic, economic, and ecological dynamics of Irish agriculture. This paper discusses the role of European market integration and fossil energy in prompting this transition and details its impacts on farmer livelihoods and landscape-level biodiversity.