Self Feed Silage

[at the edge]

Can anyone remember any previous threads on self feed silage for sucklers and also sheep that I could get a bit more insight on and find on the forum. I'd like to know how anyone that's doing it successfully works their system.

All assistance welcome !

 

[Bury the Trash]

Can anyone remember any previous threads on self feed silage for sucklers and also sheep that I could get a bit more insight on and find on the forum. I'd like to know how anyone that's doing it successfully works their system.

All assistance welcome !

Not long ago , some time last year there was a good feature on a sheep farmer from Wales in fw I think iirc.
It was very interesting.

 

[neilo]

Not long ago , some time last year there was a good feature on a sheep farmer from Wales in fw I think iirc.
It was very interesting.

I’d guess that would have been John Parry from by Kerry? He’s been self feeding silage to sheep for many years, and his system has been in various rags over the years. He was a Farming Connect demo farm for a while too, so Google might bring up some of their info on his farm too.
He’s a clued up fella that makes some superb silage too, regularly in the winners of the Grassland Society competitions.

I don’t know of anyone else that’s done it with sheep, despite the number of farmers that must have sent his setup.

Article from few last year:

How a farmer reduced prolapses with a self-feed silage system - Farmers Weekly

A Welsh upland farm has slashed the number of prolapses at lambing by 75% since introducing a self-feed silage system for pregnant ewes. John Parry put

www.fwi.co.uk

 

[som farmer]

self feed silage, sorta died out when we started to compete, as to, who had the highest clamp ! feed face length also effects it, seem to recall 9 ins a cow ? Sheep wise, for self feed, how high could you go, without compromising the height sheep can reach ? The 1/2 way system of putting it in feeders, answers both questions, without spending a fortune.

 

[milkloss]

Used to feed the milkers this way, still partly feed the suckers this way. What do you need to know?

 

[milkloss]

 

[davidroberts30]

@boyo self feeds all his

 

[at the edge]

I am needing a new silage pit as the old one I bought with the place is kind of in the way and there is always a lot of waste from the earth walls, so I am thinking if I need to spend some money spend it once and spend it right! Currently the cows have two feed passes about 100ft long each with diagonal barriers and they are fed with a wagon with their heads out of the side of the building and they are all on slatted pens with 10ft underground tanks. So I am thinking two long and wide pits in the old feed pass area (and obviously a good bit more to cope with the bulk), remove the feed barriers so they can lie back in the building but eat and loaf in the new pit area which gradually gets bigger as the winter goes on.

My queries are, what alterations will I need to do come calving, shall I slope new floor back to the tanks so they can 'walk"the slurry back, how much more slurry will I need to deal with (as the tanks are all covered they really need to be pumped not mucked out which means more storage, as I am not sure if I could separate the solids from the liquid with this system). I don't really want to be scraping every day either!

The sheep buildings are similar, but currently feed in walk through type troughs that divide the pens internally. They are also all on slats with a scraper that runs every hour which pushes the muck out into 10ft tank at the end of the building. I was thinking the same approach, open up the sides of the building which is 150ft long where they can access the pit through a feed barrier thats held back from the silage enough so they can get their daily requirements and not have too much wasted silage, then have a bit of a step back into the building so they don't drag the silage back into the slats.

Again, what alterations are required at lambing time!

 

[Agrivator]

Why don't you just use ring feeders, and if need be, buy or make some good hay that you can manhandle into them?

 

[at the edge]

Trying to phase out as much machinery as possible as well as time and labour as I've plenty of other things to do, with rings Id be moving them for cleaning, penning back cattle for gate access etc. and have to keep bales at them every day

In an ideal scenario id just like to be moving the barrier/wire once or twice a day and maybe a scrape once a week if needed

 

[neilo]

Why don't you just use ring feeders, and if need be, buy or make some good hay that you can manhandle into them?

Even the best hay is a very long way behind good silage, in just about all parameters. Smells nice though.

 

[milkloss]

You'll be wanting easy access to the face so you can tidy it up with a block cutter if necessary. A self feed pit is still work even if you limit the height to no more than cow shoulder height, we use a wire and lumps of silo can flatten it as soon as you turn your back. I guess barriers might be quite good in this respect. If the silo is tight then the cows can struggle with intake and they'll sh1t a lot at the face when feeding.

we only part feed at the face as there isn't enough room for all to feed and we make it too tall anyway. Shear off the top and feed out and leave the bottom grab for them to clear at the face so no worries forking down lumps or crappy bits.

if they get the wire down this happens

Are straw choppers really worth it?

I use a similar design to a muck spreader. I have one of these for the loose houwed milkers. 2 large bales every other day for 80 milkers. Have mine mounted on an old weeks 4t trailer chassis for ease of hitching. Just needs oil and electric for bed speed Looks like it might make a mess of...

thefarmingforum.co.uk

 

[Agrivator]

Even the best hay is a very long way behind good silage, in just about all parameters. Smells nice though.

Don't be silly. Regardless of feed value, good hay has a number of advantages.

There is little risk of listeria.

It is far easier to handle in confined spaces.

It doesn't go off, even if lambs lie and shite on it.

Any surplus can be kept for next year.

You can go to the local shop without the shopkeeper getting out the air freshener after you've left.

The next best thing to good hay, is the same product made a day quicker as very dry haylage.

 

[multi power]

I am needing a new silage pit as the old one I bought with the place is kind of in the way and there is always a lot of waste from the earth walls, so I am thinking if I need to spend some money spend it once and spend it right! Currently the cows have two feed passes about 100ft long each with diagonal barriers and they are fed with a wagon with their heads out of the side of the building and they are all on slatted pens with 10ft underground tanks. So I am thinking two long and wide pits in the old feed pass area (and obviously a good bit more to cope with the bulk), remove the feed barriers so they can lie back in the building but eat and loaf in the new pit area which gradually gets bigger as the winter goes on.

My queries are, what alterations will I need to do come calving, shall I slope new floor back to the tanks so they can 'walk"the slurry back, how much more slurry will I need to deal with (as the tanks are all covered they really need to be pumped not mucked out which means more storage, as I am not sure if I could separate the solids from the liquid with this system). I don't really want to be scraping every day either!

The sheep buildings are similar, but currently feed in walk through type troughs that divide the pens internally. They are also all on slats with a scraper that runs every hour which pushes the muck out into 10ft tank at the end of the building. I was thinking the same approach, open up the sides of the building which is 150ft long where they can access the pit through a feed barrier thats held back from the silage enough so they can get their daily requirements and not have too much wasted silage, then have a bit of a step back into the building so they don't drag the silage back into the slats.

Again, what alterations are required at lambing time!

You should have zero waste with earth walls, I'd get rid of the wagon and feed blocks of silage with a shear grab every 2 or 3 days to the cows
I've no idea about sheep so can't really comment

 

[An ancient git]

Cattle work ok , no probs , on self-feed silage , but for sheep the clamp height is so low to get it to work that it makes job an uneconomical joke ....... Tried it once ; 40 odd years ago !!!!!!!!!!

 

[neilo]

Cattle work ok , no probs , on self-feed silage , but for sheep the clamp height is so low to get it to work that it makes job an uneconomical joke ....... Tried it once ; 40 odd years ago !!!!!!!!!!

I think John Parry has the clamp about 4’ deep iirc, and a barrier across the face.

Cattle can be fed under an electric fence wire with a staple in the sleepers each end. We used to self-feed 300 milkers years ago, and the followers stayed on the same system until recently. Intakes are restricted compared to feeding in racks or behind a barrier, but hardly a problem for anything but productive dairy cows.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Cattle work ok , no probs , on self-feed silage , but for sheep the clamp height is so low to get it to work that it makes job an uneconomical joke ....... Tried it once ; 40 odd years ago !!!!!!!!!!

https://www.fwi.co.uk/livestock/liv...es-at-lambing-using-a-self-feed-silage-system

 

[at the edge]

You should have zero waste with earth walls, I'd get rid of the wagon and feed blocks of silage with a shear grab every 2 or 3 days to the cows
I've no idea about sheep so can't really comment

I was thinking that too, and/or a row of bales laid end to end like a sausage roll and perhaps adapt my existing diagonals to 'slide out" about 5', controlled by a ratchet, which you move daily to let the barriers move out enough for a full days feed. That might last them nearly a week!

 

[at the edge]

Cattle work ok , no probs , on self-feed silage , but for sheep the clamp height is so low to get it to work that it makes job an uneconomical joke ....... Tried it once ; 40 odd years ago !!!!!!!!!!

There would need to be enough for around a 1000 ewes from mid Dec through to April so they will scoff a fair bit so the pit will need to have a reasonable footprint at 4', but the space they've created by eating the pit will be welcome come lambing time for pens etc

 

[multi power]

I was thinking that too, and/or a row of bales laid end to end like a sausage roll and perhaps adapt my existing diagonals to 'slide out" about 5', controlled by a ratchet, which you move daily to let the barriers move out enough for a full days feed. That might last them nearly a week!

Cow pow barriers might suit, O Donavon engineering make them