Disappointing silage

[beefandsleep]

Where do you send it?
The tip?

Home. Most gangs here have 3-4 lads they can call on when they need extra trailers for longer hauls, basic charge for chopper and 3 trailers then per hr per additional trailer.
I’ve a field next to the clamp this year, I will tell him two trailers only for that one. I like to see the chopper waiting a bit. They’re getting stupid big for the average farm.

 

[Sid]

Consolidation right to the top

 

[puppet]

Not heavy enough

I add a bit more weight as driver. Rolling thin layers, time between loads and getting it sealed quickly is key, not hiring a mega-tractor. Face is tight as a duck's a***e and you can see every trailer cleaned up with no waste. Second cut was very dry though no analysis.
I didn't start this thread as never had a problem with mould, just made some observations.

 

[michael N123]

I add a bit more weight as driver. Rolling thin layers, time between loads and getting it sealed quickly is key, not hiring a mega-tractor. Face is tight as a duck's a***e and you can see every trailer cleaned up with no waste. Second cut was very dry though no analysis.
I didn't start this thread as never had a problem with mould, just made some observations. View attachment 939105View attachment 939106

Your pit sides are a lot easier to roll than A panelled pit

 

[puppet]

And safer. If you go too far over can just drive onto the banks. Not had to yet.

 

[organicguy]

That is most of the problem, not enough weight on the pit , going forward if you can’t go to a heavier machine on the pit , don’t let the grass wilt too much , and make the pit long and low rising up slowly and spread the grass in thin layers , this gives the grass a lot of extra rolling , if you have twin wheels on take them off , roll with the narrowest wheel tractor you have .

It is not the weight that matters so much as the thickness of the layers.
High DM needs more rolling, shorter cut.
pH of the fermented silage will determine how stable it is at different DM, high DM will tend to produce less acid before stable, so needs more rolling and careful handling at feed out. Oxygen entering the clamp and sugars available to ferment cause secondary fermentation.

 

[M-J-G]

, how did we make silage with a DB1394 and a push off buckrake on the pit, no mould , pit open for best part of a week .? If you have mould in the silage which is not secondary fermentation it came in on the grass. Late cut July grass in a wet year can be pretty manky in the stem.

Or a 35 and an old trip buckrake

 

[M-J-G]

From what I've seen silage issues are normally due to contamination or air.
Clean grass, hard packed and well sealed will rarely give issues, unless it's too dry or too big a face and secondary fermentation is occurring.
But we all know that, so sorry you state the obvious.

If the face is too big, I would take take half depth (if measuring from back to front) blocks out with the shear grab, that way you'll renew the face in half the time, albeit you'll have double the amount if silage exposed to the air but considering that secondary fermentation is an accumulative process a shorter period of exposure is advantageous.

 

[farmsuk]

Once getting beyond 30%DM some inoculant begin to struggle I tend to switch customers over to our Arable Silage inoculant which works far better & in a slightly different way.

In saying that you don't know the DM until very close harvest and ordering the correct inoculant is difficult.

I would suggest using a product which combines feed preservatives Sodium benzoate and Sodium nitrite which is are a safe to use format.

These preservatives will inhibit the growth of moulds and yeasts.

But leave out the most effective Potassium Sorbate which by combining the 3 is the most effective, proven this year by winning The AgriScot silage competition, also the Scottish Winter Fair and also having a finalist in the Welsh Silage competition which is still to be drawn

 

[Ffermer Bach]

Is it on the face if so that's secondary fermentation as like you say your not going back fast enough

if you are not getting across the face fast enough, feed clamp to the sheep as well with the shear grab, then when clamp is finished, feed bales to the cattle & sheep.

 

[Speedstar]

But leave out the most effective Potassium Sorbate which by combining the 3 is the most effective, proven this year by winning The AgriScot silage competition, also the Scottish Winter Fair and also having a finalist in the Welsh Silage competition which is still to be drawn

we made the silage that won the Agriscot competition this year for a customer

 

[farmsuk]

we made the silage that won the Agriscot competition this year for a customer

The Milk section was won by Daniel Ritch on Orkney

 

[Lofty1984]

we made the silage that won the Agriscot competition this year for a customer

We have a customer who regularly wins with his clamp silage pushed in with a tractor and buckrake he rolls hell out of it with a jcb pivot steer. Our own silage we did one clamp as usual and one using a compactor just about finished the uncompacted one has zero waste I’m keen to see what the compacted one is like

 

[farmsuk]

We have a customer who regularly wins with his clamp silage pushed in with a tractor and buckrake he rolls hell out of it with a jcb pivot steer. Our own silage we did one clamp as usual and one using a compactor just about finished the uncompacted one has zero waste I’m keen to see what the compacted one is like

Customers claim they are getting up to 40% more in the same area with the Silapactor, brilliant pieces of kit, if I say so myself

 

[Cowabunga]

Course, stemmy grass cut long and overly dry [or not] will not consolidate adequately even with lots of rolling. It will always tend to have mould in the clamp and certainly at the face. Cut younger and sweeter, shorter if necessary and no dryer than 38% DM of grass that contains no rain. The younger and higher in N the grass, the higher the need for an additive but ideally there is no need for additive. Sometimes additive is very cost effective though.

As an aside I’ve used various additives over the years and always found consistently good results from Genus at ‘only’ £1/ton applied. As someone else mentioned though, an additive made for arable silage is more suitable for older stalky dry grass that is more like straw than pasture grass. That or the baler/wrapper

 

[Lofty1984]

Customers claim they are getting up to 40% more in the same area with the Silapactor, brilliant pieces of kit, if I say so myself

Yes we’ve a few customers who have gotten their own I tend not to see the opened pits as once I’ve buckraked it that’s the last I see of it so it will be good to see it being cut back out

 

[farmsuk]

we made the silage that won the Agriscot competition this year for a customer

I think that was the young Farmers section?

 

[Speedstar]

There you go

 

[farmsuk]

Yours is the East of Scotland not AgriScot

First prize in the hotly contested Dairy Clamp class was awarded to a 37.6DM, 12.3ME, 18.2P, pH4.4 produced by Daniel Ritch on his Brettobreck Farm, Stromness. Organisers believe that this is the furthest north this prize has ever

First in the Beef & Sheep was awarded to a silage – 27.6DM, 12.3ME, 15.4P, pH4.1 – from Adam McIntosh, Achneel, Stranraer. Second prize was Sam Carlisle, North Darvargal, Dumfries with Adam Wardrop of Knockterra Farming Co, Cumnock in third.

 

[farmsuk]

Course, stemmy grass cut long and overly dry [or not] will not consolidate adequately even with lots of rolling. It will always tend to have mould in the clamp and certainly at the face. Cut younger and sweeter, shorter if necessary and no dryer than 38% DM of grass that contains no rain. The younger and higher in N the grass, the higher the need for an additive but ideally there is no need for additive. Sometimes additive is very cost effective though.

As an aside I’ve used various additives over the years and always found consistently good results from Genus at ‘only’ £1/ton applied. As someone else mentioned though, an additive made for arable silage is more suitable for older stalky dry grass that is more like straw than pasture grass. That or the baler/wrapper

There is nothing in the Genus product to improve stability in fact it can make it less stable, no homolactic bacteria improve stability