Silage Pit Size?

[jock t]

baling all my silage at the moment for around 650 cattle inside for the winter, I usually bale around 3400 bales a year and use lots of plastic. Bales usually average 700kg. What size would I need to build a pit to hold this tonnage? Google gives lots of different answers.
I’m scratching my head to see if I can justify the pit.
TIA
J

 

[Mc115reed]

So you want a clamp to hold roughly 2500 tons of fodder... you’ll not get a straight answer on how big your clamp needs to be because all depends on DM content, chop length, and how much you want to put above the walls....


I’d put my bets on 45m wide by 100m long by 3 panels high .... then sky’s limit

 

[Werzle]

Just read a planning statement on a dairy farm and in it , it said they clamp 2500t of grass in two 100ftx50ftx15ft clamps if thats any use.

 

[Mur Huwcun]

So you want a clamp to hold roughly 2500 tons of fodder...


I’d put my bets on 45m wide by 100m long by 3 panels high .... then sky’s limit

With a wall down the centre to keep the feed face fresh all the time maybe?

 

[Mc115reed]

Well I’d assume it’s not all one cut so yes probably split in half 1st cut in 1 and 2nd and 3rd cut in the other side

 

[robs1]

Have it open at both ends so you can use up leftovers first

 

[Mouser]

125ftx40ft times 2 would be lower limit, bit of extra capacity is cheaper now

 

[Mur Huwcun]

As daft as it sounds you would be better off with more smaller pits to cover the same area than two large ones, it’s only going to be extra panels. Say you had a lower quality second or third cut one season and maybe you would need two pits open at the same time to feed both or in the future you could come by some maize or wholecrop to go in one pit

 

[jackstor]

3400 bales easily justify a pit, you’ll wish you did it years ago!
As for the pit, I would’ve thought 2 pits 150ftx50ft, a lot depends how your making them, that size with earth banks will hold a lot of silage, but 2 sheds 24ft to the eaves will quickly fill up.
Whatever size you decide, add another 25% on

 

[jock t]

Thanks for the replies. It gives me an idea on what I’d need. As mentioned it’s 2 cuts so 2 pits would be the intention. All I need to do now is work out how to pay for them. Cheers
John

 

[Dave6170]

Will they let you build an earth wall pit in your area?
It wont take long to pay for a pit compared to the cost bales.

 

[jock t]

Will they let you build an earth wall pit in your area?
It wont take long to pay for a pit compared to the cost bales.

Yes others have build earth walls recently, as long as the tank for effluent is big enough.

 

[Raynard]

3400 bales easily justify a pit, you’ll wish you did it years ago!
As for the pit, I would’ve thought 2 pits 150ftx50ft, a lot depends how your making them, that size with earth banks will hold a lot of silage, but 2 sheds 24ft to the eaves will quickly fill up.
Whatever size you decide, add another 25% on

This ^. Build 2 x 150ftx50ft earth bank pits last yr. Easily hold 1250t / pit.

 

[zyklon]

What annoys me with open pits and a recent meeting with a member of our Agri department is we have to collect all rain water that runs off the pit cover. It’s impossible to have a tank that can hold all that rain water even if your pit of silage hadn’t a drop of effluent.

I have an open pit that won’t be opened till next Feb and the environmental agency want me to collect all water from that pit till it is empty and cleaned out.

Any new silo’s in my area are all being put up Roofed. Disgrace.

 

[Paul E]

Whatever size you decide, add another 25% on

...then a bit more, just to be sure.

 

[glasshouse]

baling all my silage at the moment for around 650 cattle inside for the winter, I usually bale around 3400 bales a year and use lots of plastic. Bales usually average 700kg. What size would I need to build a pit to hold this tonnage? Google gives lots of different answers.
I’m scratching my head to see if I can justify the pit.
TIA
J

So you are spending about £8k on plastic?
£8 k on wrapping.and a similiar sum on baling?,

 

[glasshouse]

You cant not do it

 

[Mc115reed]

Let’s put it this way ...

3400 bales I’m assuming rounds through a fusion???

3200x £6.50 a bale = £22100

3200 average 700kg bale (seems heavy to me but I digress..)

Say your doing 8T to acre... (12bales too acre)

3200 / 12 = 266 acres does this sound right???

250 acres through a forager assuming your local rate about £60 acre all in...

250 x £60 = £15,000

Your first year alone a saving of £7k! Over 5 years,

£35,000 if you can’t put a silage clamp up for that something is going wrong...

 

[jock t]

So you are spending about £8k on plastic?
£8 k on wrapping.and a similiar sum on baling?,

I wish it was only £8k on plastic, you can easily add a few more! Do all the work ourselves, But we seem to be driving bales all summer, so the time would be the biggest saving and the baler might last a bit longer!
At rough costing the concrete for the pit floor will be £8k each pit before tank and digging out. I’d then have a contractor to pay every year. I can still cut it all and put it in the pit but how much is it going to save me every year to pay a contractor? That’s what I need to do the numbers on to see how long the payback on the pit would be.

 

[jock t]

Let’s put it this way ...

3400 bales I’m assuming rounds through a fusion???

3200x £6.50 a bale = £22100

3200 average 700kg bale (seems heavy to me but I digress..)

Say your doing 8T to acre... (12bales too acre)

3200 / 12 = 266 acres does this sound right???

250 acres through a forager assuming your local rate about £60 acre all in...

250 x £60 = £15,000

Your first year alone a saving of £7k! Over 5 years,

£35,000 if you can’t put a silage clamp up for that something is going wrong...

Thanks for your numbers, gives me something to think about. Not using a fusion though, welger v160 and hs2000 on separate tractor.