Round bales or silage pit?

tr250

Member
Location
Northants
We do clamp and a few bales. The bales make our eyes water at how much they cost. We have pits but they also store Muck when empty and we do all work ourselves we prefer clamp as it’s quick and easy both in terms of harvest and feeding out and best of all no stinking hands and wrap to get rid of. We have couple of thousand ton roughly in clamp with zero plastic
 

glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
We do clamp and a few bales. The bales make our eyes water at how much they cost. We have pits but they also store Muck when empty and we do all work ourselves we prefer clamp as it’s quick and easy both in terms of harvest and feeding out and best of all no stinking hands and wrap to get rid of. We have couple of thousand ton roughly in clamp with zero plastic
I hate bales, but horsey girls want them
 

Bobthebuilder

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
northumberland
We do clamp and a few bales. The bales make our eyes water at how much they cost. We have pits but they also store Muck when empty and we do all work ourselves we prefer clamp as it’s quick and easy both in terms of harvest and feeding out and best of all no stinking hands and wrap to get rid of. We have couple of thousand ton roughly in clamp with zero plastic

How do you keep waste from clamp walls and how do you cover your clamp with no plastic [emoji848]
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
We do clamp and a few bales. The bales make our eyes water at how much they cost. We have pits but they also store Muck when empty and we do all work ourselves we prefer clamp as it’s quick and easy both in terms of harvest and feeding out and best of all no stinking hands and wrap to get rid of. We have couple of thousand ton roughly in clamp with zero plastic
If you get a,contractor in would he not charge £50/ acre + to harvest . Around the same price as bales then
 

egbert

Member
Livestock Farmer
Dont know any Baler men that would be under 7'10 either!
Both neighbour and I - with JD rubber bands, and the nearest contractor- 11 miles away-, with whatever Welgar are called nowadays. Lely?

Mind, I don't think new JD balers would fit........
 

Ali_Maxxum

Member
Location
Chepstow, Wales
The amount of farms I've been on and looked at these monumental stacks of wrapped bales all I think about is what a monumental amount of waste and rubbish, the plastic that is....

I just think you fill a clamp with thousands of tones of feed and (should) chuck 2 sheets over it. How much plastic and cost is there farting about with bales compared to pit silage. Sure clamps don't come cheap but it's surely so much quicker/easier/cleaner? Put over 100acres of grass away in a day. May be more waste but it's not like it's not put back to use (spread with muck). You can still have a stack of shyte bales.

At least with a clamp you can use it for other things. Or god forbid put a roof over it.
 

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
The size of the farm has to be a big factor too. I don't care how good bales are, you're not going to use them to feed 1000 permanently housed dairy cows.
If you've only a few dozen suck cows/beef then bales might be better.
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
The size of the farm has to be a big factor too. I don't care how good bales are, you're not going to use them to feed 1000 permanently housed dairy cows.
If you've only a few dozen suck cows/beef then bales might be better.
I know of a farm where ALL their silage is bales. They milk 140ish cows and have sheds full of beef. It's all bales.
 

RhysT

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Swansea
That's high for making your own, is the rent worth it? How much fert' were you putting on and how many bales p.a. did you get for each cut? :scratchhead:
We didn’t pay £100 an acre for rent, but I did allow for rent if we did have to pay it. We put 200kgs an acre first cut and 150kgs for second cut.
One 10 acre field had 139 rounds first cut. Most averaged 18 bales an acre over two cuts but was an exceptional year for crops.
 

clem dog

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Co Antrim
It depends how you you value your time along with the cost of the silage. Bales can be labour intensive if long hauling is required and when feeding out. If silage is made in dribs and drabs as grass is deemed ready for cutting then bales are the way to go.
Large amounts of single cut low quality forage as some do for sucklers then I'd say a Clamp is the way to go. But everyone's milage will vary and as stated above don't do what you feel is "trendy" do what suits you and your system.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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