Silage Season 2018

[Cuthbert]

How big was the field 5 acres

 

[vantage]

Took us two hours to get into field[emoji16]

Paid by the acre or the hour?

 

[alan6920]

Paid by the acre or the hour?

Acre the whole of 11

 

[holywell farmer]

Good to see that the mower man has left a decent stubble so regrowth should be good

and that the boys feel that they can have a leisurely lunch (weather certainly helps)

and that the pit is filling nicely

So far, 2018 is looking a bit more promising than 2017 but I aint counting them chickens yet

Chopper running well ?

 

[alan6920]

Second cut burning up fast

 

[had e nuff]

Second cut burning up fast

At least you have some 2nd cut.

 

[farmerste]

2nd cut yesterday

 

[Bald Rick]

Chopping straight behind the mower AND it is still like hay. Can't roll it in the clamp and the wholecrop is ripening at an alarming pace. At least 2-3 weeks ahead of itself.

Saving on fuel for the tedder & additive though ......... and probably fert as there is little point getting out there and no end in sight yet to this glorious weather

 

[Princess Pooper]

Mower an hour ahead of the chopper. 396 tonnes fresh off 58 acres, one of the better local yields apparently, somewhere they cut last week was below 300 tonnes off 130 acres (!)

Total first and second cut together we estimate here is down by 20%, last year we could not fit it all in and had 100+ bales wrapped, which we are currently feeding!

At least the cows have some HLS margins they can graze now. The coast is clear for you @BobGreen.

 

[betweenthelines]

Chopping straight behind the mower AND it is still like hay. Can't roll it in the clamp and the wholecrop is ripening at an alarming pace. At least 2-3 weeks ahead of itself.

Ripening or dying off?

 

[O'Reilly]

Mower an hour ahead of the chopper. 396 tonnes fresh off 58 acres, one of the better local yields apparently, somewhere they cut last week was below 300 tonnes off 130 acres (!)

Total first and second cut together we estimate here is down by 20%, last year we could not fit it all in and had 100+ bales wrapped, which we are currently feeding!

At least the cows have some HLS margins they can graze now. The coast is clear for you @BobGreen.

Very precise yield there. Your contractor got yield monitoring on the chopper? Wish ours would.

 

[Princess Pooper]

Very precise yield there. Your contractor got yield monitoring on the chopper? Wish ours would.

First time they've told us, so yes!

 

[d williams]

Very precise yield there. Your contractor got yield monitoring on the chopper? Wish ours would.

What would you consider to be fair as a extra charge for this facility.?

 

[Princess Pooper]

What would you consider to be fair as a extra charge for this facility.?

Just part of the excellent service from ours, as well as chucking tyres!

 

[d williams]

Just part of the excellent service from ours, as well as chucking tyres!

Would you be prepared to pay extra for this service I would expect it cost a fair bit to add to machine

 

[O'Reilly]

I realise that's where the rub is. I believe that they cost £20k, if a chopper did 4000 acres per year over five years I guess that £1/acre would cover the cost, and there would be some resale value to it. I don't think I would object to that to know more precisely what I had in the clamp, especially for the crops we buy where it should be more accurate than weighing a load or two. But of course a lot of tight rse farmers would object to that pound. Apparently someone locally has decided its not worth using polythene to cover his clamp. You just despair sometimes.

 

[The Agrarian]

Finished but not covering til the morning. I estimate we took about 1.8t DM/acre average. It's probably similar to first cut. So nearly 9t DM/ha so far. Sounds about right. But we're in big trouble if rain doesn't appear for third cut.

 

[d williams]

I realise that's where the rub is. I believe that they cost £20k, if a chopper did 4000 acres per year over five years I guess that £1/acre would cover the cost, and there would be some resale value to it. I don't think I would object to that to know more precisely what I had in the clamp, especially for the crops we buy where it should be more accurate than weighing a load or two. But of course a lot of tight rse farmers would object to that pound. Apparently someone locally has decided its not worth using polythene to cover his clamp. You just despair sometimes.

Being the devil here would you make the same investment for that return.?
I'd want a bit more then resale value or charge per ton.?

 

[O'Reilly]

Being the devil here would you make the same investment for that return.?
I'd want a bit more then resale value or charge per ton.?

I probably make far worse investment decisions all the time! There's also the issue of providing a better service than other contractors, see princess poopers response about the excellent service provided by her contractor. I'd give it a go I think.

 

[Princess Pooper]

I realise that's where the rub is. I believe that they cost £20k, if a chopper did 4000 acres per year over five years I guess that £1/acre would cover the cost, and there would be some resale value to it. I don't think I would object to that to know more precisely what I had in the clamp, especially for the crops we buy where it should be more accurate than weighing a load or two. But of course a lot of tight rse farmers would object to that pound. Apparently someone locally has decided its not worth using polythene to cover his clamp. You just despair sometimes.

Our contractor's choppers I suspect cover a lot more than 4000 acres, they do a lot of wholecrop and maize for AD. He has 4 big JD choppers and a hell of a lot of JD tractors so also suspect he has a bit of discount......