Silage waste

[Spartacus]

Anyone have any ideas to stop silage waste with feeders like this?

I think part of it is flicking their heads up and throwing it over their back and some backing out and dropping it. Would a scaffold bar higher up solve a lot of the throwing it over their backs? Anyone devised something for over the top that's easy to move to put the silage in?

 

[yoki]

I think slanted rails is the only solution unfortunately.

edit - or shorter chopped silage!

 

[davidroberts30]

a rail may help, ring a scaffy mate and borrow a few 21 footers and try a bit to see

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Tarpaulin over the top

 

[livestock 1]

It doesn’t look that bad or does it get worse than that?

 

[Fat Lamb]

Weave a ratchet strap along it a third of the way down.Tension it up. Secure with a self tapper on each upright bar with a big washer on each.

 

[milkloss]

Wastage? Are you feeding bales or clamp silage?

 

[Davy_g]

We tried a scaffold bar above their heads, some improvement, a bar below - again improvement - both limit head movement as they throw it over their backs. I used a ratchet strap to trial the best height before fixing the scaffold bars.
have diagonal barriers and they still do it - they do help stop cows pulling it directly through. Getting the silage cut as short as possible is the best solution - all the knives in - makes a big difference. Also what they do pull through is easier mixed in the tank (mine eat off slats).
Shaking silage out first also helps but I don't have time for that.
I have a few cows that mainly do it. Cull the odd one as it puts them on the cull list, but another one seems to take over.

 

[Spartacus]

Round bale chopped silage so I don't think it can be chopped any shorter.

It doesn't look too bad but the muck is mostly tramped in silage.

Cows would just chew a tarp over the top, have tried a ratchet strap on one side but I didn't think it made any significant difference. I do wonder if a bit of rubber matting hanging over the top covering part of the spaces would help so they have to push through and it gently rests on their head.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Round bale chopped silage so I don't think it can be chopped any shorter.

It doesn't look too bad but the muck is mostly tramped in silage.

Cows would just chew a tarp over the top, have tried a ratchet strap on one side but I didn't think it made any significant difference. I do wonder if a bit of rubber matting hanging over the top covering part of the spaces would help so they have to push through and it gently rests on their head.

Have a friend with exact same set up whos cows were doing exactly the same thing and he put a heavy duty tarp over and it fettled them

 

[livestock 1]

We had some racks or barriers up the side of 2 alleys in a shed they were put in new by the shed firm they never worked they just dragged it out
When I feed in alleys I usually put most of the bales in so they have to reach for them which stops the waste. The lads put the bales up to the barrier and they always drag some out. The answer is wide alleys where the cattle have to reach.
The other problem can be if the silage is poor then they will drag it out because they don’t like what they are eating. That’s something that’s noticeable too

 

[Hilly]

Anyone have any ideas to stop silage waste with feeders like this?

View attachment 1160664

I think part of it is flicking their heads up and throwing it over their back and some backing out and dropping it. Would a scaffold bar higher up solve a lot of the throwing it over their backs? Anyone devised something for over the top that's easy to move to put the silage in?

Bales ?

 

[AftonShepherd]

Round bale chopped silage so I don't think it can be chopped any shorter.

It doesn't look too bad but the muck is mostly tramped in silage.

Cows would just chew a tarp over the top, have tried a ratchet strap on one side but I didn't think it made any significant difference. I do wonder if a bit of rubber matting hanging over the top covering part of the spaces would help so they have to push through and it gently rests on their head.

That might well work. I know of someone that did something similar for sheep with the orange plastic netting you see at roadworks or events and hardly ever had any waste. Cows would probably chew that but rubber might be worth a go.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Back throwing is in the breeding , job to breedit out once its there we only ever had one in a big herd thank goodness

 

[Wesley]

Back throwing is in the breeding , job to breedit out once its there we only ever had one in a big herd thank goodness

I don’t think its anything you’ll ever really stop. They find a way around it some how. Only real way to cure it is to walk them up onto a lorry…

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I don’t think its anything you’ll ever really stop. They find a way around it some how. Only real way to cure it is to walk them up onto a lorry…

We had just one when the cows where tide in a Shippon , if you walked behind you got covered

 

[hendrebc]

I've never seen a cow throw silage over her back
They pull plenty under their feet through the barrier though

 

[Blue.]

I've never seen a cow throw silage over her back
They pull plenty under their feet through the barrier though

I’ve a couple do it,usually in hot weather,had loads over the years.

 

[Davy_g]

Round bale chopped silage so I don't think it can be chopped any shorter.

Just like you can wrap with 4 layers or wrap with 6, you can have knives in or all the knives in. This is the first year I have asked for all the knives in rather than the standard 'some knives in' - I was unaware there were more that could go in but my contractor (who is on here) told me it could be done (thanks @James ) but most folk don't ask for it.
It made such a difference to silage being pulled through and helped when i put my back out with graping. Hopefully mixing the old tanks with the whisk will be easier too.
It did slow the bailing process up a bit or maybe that was my dodgy tedding.

 

[Spartacus]

Seems to be problem solved, put ratchet straps on both sides so there's a 2 foot gap in on the middle to load silage in the feeders, hardly any waste,a huge improvement on what was going on before. Only a day of having them there so far so fingers crossed it continues.