Kenton Bennett from Kerry Farm, Sturminster Newton will be jetting off to the Alltech Global 500 Conference in Kentucky, his prize for winning the 2011 TBA Ltd Silage Challenge sponsored by Alltech, Limagrain and Silo-Stop.

Presenting the award at Grassland UK 2012 at the Bath and West Showground, TBA Ltd Brand Manager Trevor Birchall explained that the competition takes a wider look at the sustainability of silage making and the effective utilisation of the crop than most other silage awards.

He said: “Grass silage is the foundation of winter feeding systems and we assessed farms on their approach to growing and making the forage, taking account of fertiliser use and the overall process. Then we considered how well the feed is managed and its effective utilisation within the diet.

“We were looking for a farm that made a cost-effective forage in a sustainable manner and then exploited its full potential.”

Kenton Bennett who runs a herd on 180 cows scored highly on all the criteria used to judge the award and was particularly commended on the quality of clamp management and feeding out.

The silage was treated using Sil-All4x4 to increase the speed of fermentation, which then results in better and more quality silage being preserved.

Runner-up up was Andrew Turner, Manor Farm, Chard who won £500 of grass seed from Limagrain while third placed farmer Mike King, Old Green Farm, Alveston will have a clamp protected with Silo-Stop this year.