Re-clamping silage

[Foregoneconclusion]

I am in the unfortunate position of having to buy in forage...

The silage is coming in bulk loads of 27 tons or so.

It is 40% plus Dry matter.

I have been advised by the seller to take a 150 tons or so and re-clamp it asap. Other customers he has have done likewise with success.

I will be getting hold of a silo-pactor and keeping things as clean as possible..

Am i insane?
(yes i am desperate)

Anyone else done this?

 

[Al R]

I am in the unfortunate position of having to buy in forage...

The silage is coming in bulk loads of 27 tons or so.

It is 40% plus Dry matter.

I have been advised by the seller to take a 150 tons or so and re-clamp it asap. Other customers he has have done likewise with success.

I will be getting hold of a silo-pactor and keeping things as clean as possible..

Am i insane?
(yes i am desperate)

Anyone else done this?

Short of grass in this county? We’ve had the best year for grass growth that we’ve had for years!
There’s 2-3 silo compactors not far from you, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work, I’ve mainly had 300-2000 cow herds buying it and sometimes 2-3 farms at a time so an artic a day was keeping the face fresh Continuously so even though a farm was only taking 1 load every 3 days the others were using in between.

 

[ploughman1963]

We were going to be doing this this winter (long story) but it didn’t happen in the end. I asked a lot of folk if it was viable and found several people had done it previously very successfully

 

[Foregoneconclusion]

We were going to be doing this this winter (long story) but it didn’t happen in the end. I asked a lot of folk if it was viable and found several people had done it previously very successfully

That's what i like to hear.. so what was their technique?

Any ideas. ?
Im going to try to mix some of my first cut with bought in forage. Get a 28 ton load level it off as best as poss and compact it well.. then bit of first cut on top and .. then next load spread atop that 1st load.. roll.. then seal...etc Probably go for a mound rather than a square clamp but will have to see what is actually practical..

 

[Foregoneconclusion]

Short of grass in this county? We’ve had the best year for grass growth that we’ve had for years!
There’s 2-3 silo compactors not far from you, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work, I’ve mainly had 300-2000 cow herds buying it and sometimes 2-3 farms at a time so an artic a day was keeping the face fresh Continuously so even though a farm was only taking 1 load every 3 days the others were using in between.

Thankyou for the reassurance..!

I had to reseed my 34 acre fld of Lucerne so there was a bit of a hole in my forage stocks.. Plus 40 acres of my red clover leys didn't perform well.. and being a hedgemonkey organic farmer i couldn't use fert..

 

[ploughman1963]

That's what i like to hear.. so what was their technique?

Any ideas. ?
Im going to try to mix some of my first cut with bought in forage. Get a 28 ton load level it off as best as poss and compact it well.. then bit of first cut on top and .. then next load spread atop that 1st load.. roll.. then seal...etc Probably go for a mound rather than a square clamp but will have to see what is actually practical..

Well, hopefully the silage is already well made and hopefully stable so its about preventing secondary fermentation. All advice I had was to treat it like you would treat fresh grass - roll it to exclude air and seal well as soon as you can. I would spend a bit of money on cling film to reduce losses - only going to need to save 3t of silage to pay for a 16mx50m sheet?

 

[jerseydan]

We did 200 tons last year. Plenty of rolling and lots of weight on top. Hardly any spoilage. My only concern would be how well 40% DM would consolidate, but wouldn't be afraid to try.

 

[Water Wheel]

Buy a bit of wet silage to go on top as a seal? + cling film and weight.

 

[mo!]

Can you get some potato mash or similar to go on top? We have zero wastage where we use it.

 

[holywell farmer]

Buy a bit of wet silage to go on top as a seal? + cling film and weight.

Wet silage on top of dry is that really a good idea ?

 

[Headless chicken]

Can you cover it in acid that should pickle it shouldn’t it?

 

[Exfarmer]

Tye originak acidity will dictate final success. Think a cold wet sialge will be better to move than a good quality lactuc silage

 

[it's not over]

What price is silage making

 

[it's not over]

Short of grass in this county? We’ve had the best year for grass growth that we’ve had for years!
There’s 2-3 silo compactors not far from you, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work, I’ve mainly had 300-2000 cow herds buying it and sometimes 2-3 farms at a time so an artic a day was keeping the face fresh Continuously so even though a farm was only taking 1 load every 3 days the others were using in between.

We've had our worst years weather since I started farming and I'm 50. Great to mid July, then rain rain and more rain. Lots of barley lost and second cuts never made. Count yourself very lucky

 

[rc mx110]

Wet silage on top of dry is that really a good idea ?

Yes. Very good idea

 

[Al R]

We've had our worst years weather since I started farming and I'm 50. Great to mid July, then rain rain and more rain. Lots of barley lost and second cuts never made. Count yourself very lucky

We have had it very wet since July too, with thousands of acres of straw still on the floor from start of August. Plenty of silage has been made locally as we’ve had a lot of 3 dry days in a run. 5” of rain every month since June apart from October which was 30mm but no more than 1 sunny day, a very overcast month. The OP is in the same county as me and we’re both organic so I was shocked that he was short of grass without having a nightmare somewhere along the line which he has said he has had.

 

[cull cows]

@Foregoneconclusion how it you get on with reclamping?
I’m buying 200 tonnes @32dm any tips?

 

[holywell farmer]

I am in the unfortunate position of having to buy in forage...

The silage is coming in bulk loads of 27 tons or so.

It is 40% plus Dry matter.

I have been advised by the seller to take a 150 tons or so and re-clamp it asap. Other customers he has have done likewise with success.

I will be getting hold of a silo-pactor and keeping things as clean as possible..

Am i insane?
(yes i am desperate)

Anyone else done this?

What loader are using ?

 

[holywell farmer]

What loader are using ?

To re clamp that is

 

[cull cows]

To re clamp that is

I’m going to get our contractor to come with the big jcb shovel the use for buck raking at silo time