Baled silage Vs clamped silage

[Dan Attle]

apart from cost what are the dis advantages and advantages for clamped silage we use baled silage specially for young calves and our feeding regime would feed the grass silage in rings

also a freind had is grass silage clamp catch fire on its own and lost all his feed is this a comman thing with it as our clamp if we wer to do it is next to all our barns
cheers , dan

 

[Derrick Hughes]

If it cought fire he wants his backside kicking for making it to dry

 

[Derrick Hughes]

The only advatage with bales , feeding small amounts , harvesting small amounts or if you don't have a pit

 

[Dan Attle]

so thats why it caught fire then but i have heard off several people when they clear there clamp theve seen its come out rede hot

 

[Gilchro]

Once saw on here @grumpy describing bales as the Devils Turds. Couldn't put it better myself. If you have any bulk over about 4 tonne/acre fresh, pit silage is cheaper.
From 4 tonne to about 11 tonne, forage wagon is cheaper than chopper and 11 tonne up it's the chopper that's cheaper.
Those were costings I did this time last year and assumed an average haul and standard Machinery Ring (Ringlink) rates.
Bales also mean a different diet every day as each bale is a snapshot of the part of the field it came from whereas pit averages it all out in the layers and as long as you work vertically when blocking it out you can even up the variation

 

[joe soapy]

apart from cost what are the dis advantages and advantages for clamped silage we use baled silage specially for young calves and our feeding regime would feed the grass silage in rings

also a freind had is grass silage clamp catch fire on its own and lost all his feed is this a comman thing with it as our clamp if we wer to do it is next to all our barns
cheers , dan

fire not common, but we had 1 and another came very close.

back in the previous century Liscoombe did a lot of trial work on this.
they found the waste even on a good clamp was much greater than bales in bags

 

[RobFZS]

alot more donkey work with bales, covered in shitty effluent cutting off the wrap and netting, alright for when you need some forage in emergency and don't want to open up the pit for a while though.

 

[grumpy]

Once saw on here @grumpy describing bales as the Devils Turds. Couldn't put it better myself. If you have any bulk over about 4 tonne/acre fresh, pit silage is cheaper.
From 4 tonne to about 11 tonne, forage wagon is cheaper than chopper and 11 tonne up it's the chopper that's cheaper.
Those were costings I did this time last year and assumed an average haul and standard Machinery Ring (Ringlink) rates.
Bales also mean a different diet every day as each bale is a snapshot of the part of the field it came from whereas pit averages it all out in the layers and as long as you work vertically when blocking it out you can even up the variation

every aspect of baled silage is an abject lesson on misery,

 

[bert]

IMO If you arnt set up with a clamp and don't have a decent amount of stock in the same place as said clamp to keep the face fresh bales take some beating. Each bale has no waste and can tip half a ton at least into a ring feeder at a time. Transport bales to other steadings or out into the fields very easily. Worked out the cost for clamping and baled silage (with 6 layers of plastic) and there isn't a great deal of difference. If your on ring feeders and have no existing clamp to work with I would stick with the bales

 

[Walterp]

We have extensive (covered) clamp storage but there are lots of reasons why we make all bales these days, using a clamp only if we go over to wholecrop/arable silage (due to vermin).

Main reasons? Convenience, one-man-operation, lack of waste, and can use the shed space for extra housing instead.

The future? As TB movement restrictions bite, you'll find more and more farmers grazing their home holding , and making bales off their outlying parcels, to minimise PMT applications; it's easier and cheaper to haul bales back 'as and when' than to hire a couple of extra carting outfits.

 

[Gilchro]

Walter can you really describe making bales silage by yourself convenient? To me it is a lesson in drudgery and misery pootling about making then collecting then wrapping then stacking all of the bales.
Clamp, it's all over and done with in no time and if the pit is sealed properly there is very little waste

 

[grumpy]

Walter can you really describe making bales silage by yourself convenient? To me it is a lesson in drudgery and misery pootling about making then collecting then wrapping then stacking all of the bales.
Clamp, it's all over and done with in no time and if the pit is sealed properly there is very little waste

putting tyres on a pit is luxury to me compared to making bales,the only thing in life i detest more than silage bales are the snp numpties

 

[Dan Attle]

thanks thats open my eyes up more and and we do baled silage isnt that bad but its a 4 man operation
baler
forklift loading bales
tractor hauling bales
forklift unloading wrapping stacking we can easily do 400 in a afternoon/evening

 

[Gilchro]

@Dan Attle How many bales year do you make?

 

[alan6430]

When I make my first million I'm going to buy a mchale fusion and a tractor man enough to drive it and can do all my baling/wrapping in one hit by myself then after milking and the next day I can bring bales in at a leisurely pace and stack them up. One man operation. Lovely

 

[Dan Attle]

@Gilchro err this year we done about 800 i think in one big stack only pain is one feild is a long haul to keep the wrapper man happy but its a good setup contractor bales it and wrapps/stacks we just mow row and haul it to the wrapper

 

[mushnt grummmble]

you baler men are mad and have toooo much time on your hands(or you dont like your wives and want/need a excuse to get out)

 

[An Gof]

P

When I make my first million I'm going to buy a mchale fusion and a tractor man enough to drive it and can do all my baling/wrapping in one hit by myself then after milking and the next day I can bring bales in at a leisurely pace and stack them up. One man operation. Lovely

No good waiting till the next day to bring the bales in. By then the birds will have ruined them

 

[Walterp]

Walter can you really describe making bales silage by yourself convenient? To me it is a lesson in drudgery and misery pootling about making then collecting then wrapping then stacking all of the bales.
Clamp, it's all over and done with in no time and if the pit is sealed properly there is very little waste

Over the years we've done it most ways, from running our own silage gang running around the various holdings, to employing a SP contractor with gang, to baled.

Silage gang: big problems were changing the prime mover, which became increasing more expensive as a decent 6 cylinder now tops £50,000. Plus the need for hauling tractors, trailers, and the ever-increasing demand on the guy on the clamp. Plus, of course, the ever-more-difficult task of finding labour to sit on the rake and the carting tractors. The time isn't to be sniffed at either, with the silage campaign stretching over weeks as we moved from farm to farm. Tedious, tedious, tedious.

Contractor: expensive and not very practical if you want to cut a couple of fields, or try for hay and have to clamp it if it comes to rain. It's a dairy farmer solution.

Bales: some livestock outfits are now tending to run a lighter, cheaper, tractor and employ a contractor to rake and bale, so that it's just mowing and hauling - keeping the machinery and labour costs to a minimum. With PMT restrictions getting tougher, it's going to tip the balance in many livestock areas back towards bales.

 

[mushnt grummmble]

P


No good waiting till the next day to bring the bales in. By then the birds will have ruined them

doesnt matter,you get no waste with bales