New Silage Pits

S

surprisefarmer

Member

Location

North West NI

• Jan 2, 2019

• #1

Hi all, starting to clear for 2new silage pits in the morning and was looking for opinions on width.

Pits will be outdoor with splayed clay banks. I was going to make them 40 foot wide at the bottom, but was scared that may be too wide and the silage could heat in the summer.

The pits will be feeding 150 cows plus followers.

Cheers

 

Slippery Slope

Member

Location

The dark side (of the Blackdown Hills)

• Jan 2, 2019

• #2

Your starting to dig tomorrow but haven't decided what width?

Do you not need planning permission over in NI?

 

S

surprisefarmer

Member

Location

North West NI

• Jan 2, 2019

• #3

Bit of a rehash so no planning.

 

Slippery Slope

Member

Location

The dark side (of the Blackdown Hills)

• Jan 2, 2019

• #4

40 feet should be fine, depending on how much you feed a day I guess.

If the silage is too dry then it will heat out at 30 feet wide though!

 

devonshire farmer

Member

Mixed Farmer

Location

Devon

• Jan 2, 2019

• #5

If you have plenty of room length ways go 30ft and a bit longer in my opinion

 

S

surprisefarmer

Member

Location

North West NI

• Jan 2, 2019

• #6

devonshire farmer said:

If you have plenty of room length ways go 30ft and a bit longer in my opinion

Click to expand...

Unfortunately I don’t have the length, that’s why I was tempted to push the width a bit. I will get about 90 foot at a push.

 

Sharpy

Member

Livestock Farmer

Location

Ardrossan Ayrshire

• Jan 2, 2019

• #7

How deep will the silage be?

 

Scholsey

Member

Location

Herefordshire

• Jan 2, 2019

• #8

surprisefarmer said:

Hi all, starting to clear for 2new silage pits in the morning and was looking for opinions on width.

Pits will be outdoor with splayed clay banks. I was going to make them 40 foot wide at the bottom, but was scared that may be too wide and the silage could heat in the summer.

The pits will be feeding 150 cows plus followers.

Cheers

Click to expand...

40ft for your number of cows is fine aslong as you have a decent sheargrab and know how to use it.

 

S

surprisefarmer

Member

Location

North West NI

• Jan 2, 2019

• #9

Sharpy said:

How deep will the silage be?

Click to expand...

Banks will end up being about 10 foot so it all depends on what sort of crop I get after that.

 

Sharpy

Member

Livestock Farmer

Location

Ardrossan Ayrshire

• Jan 2, 2019

• #10

Wouldn't go wider than 40ft then. Or possibly a narrower pit for summer use and a wider one for winter use?

 

G

goatfarmer

Member

• Jan 2, 2019

• #11

Earth banks aren't legal for clamps post 1990 strictly speaking

 

The Agrarian

Member

Mixed Farmer

Location

Northern Ireland

• Jan 2, 2019

• #12

Quite often in winter I have two 33 ft clamps open at once. Five grabs high. Just don't make it too dry, like I did last summer!

 

Agrispeed

Member

Location

Cornwall

• Jan 2, 2019

• #13

You can always add a freestanding central wall later if it does become a problem.

 

puppet

Member

Livestock Farmer

Location

sw scotland

• Jan 2, 2019

• #14

goatfarmer said:

Earth banks aren't legal for clamps post 1990 strictly speaking

Click to expand...

Depends where you live. Plenty up here

 

multi power

Member

Location

pembrokeshire

• Jan 2, 2019

• #15

goatfarmer said:

Earth banks aren't legal for clamps post 1990 strictly speaking

Click to expand...

Neither is running 50k tractors but lots of people do

 

ollie989898

Member

Location

Hanging from a twig, in a deep sleep.

• Jan 2, 2019

• #16

Doesn't NI have an environment agency who insist you consult them before building new silage clamps or extensively altering old ones? Be a brave man that did that around here.

 

V

vantage

Member

Livestock Farmer

Location

Pembs

• Jan 3, 2019

• #17

goatfarmer said:

Earth banks aren't legal for clamps post 1990 strictly speaking

Click to expand...

You need a perimeter drain to catch the effluent,should you get any. I only know as I recently got some pollution advice.
The EA have employed another 8 employees to go around farms,would be a foolish man to crack on regardless without finding out about the regs now!

 

cowboysupper

Member

Mixed Farmer

• Jan 3, 2019

• #18

ollie989898 said:

Doesn't NI have an environment agency who insist you consult them before building new silage clamps or extensively altering old ones? Be a brave man that did that around here.

Click to expand...

Don’t think you have to consult them pre build but you do have to have engineers certification so that it complies with SSAFO and NAP regs in the event that NIEA come and do a cross compliance inspection.

 

daijd

Member

Location

South wales

• Jan 4, 2019

• #19

Go 40ft. If you find it’s heating up go half depth of shear grab so you go across face quicker

 

B

bobajob

Member

Location

Sw Scotland

• Jan 4, 2019

• #20

Too narrow is awkward to fill in summer. Also when it comes to getting it back out- trying to get the feeder wagon at a bit of an angle to fill it is not easy in a narrow pit.