- Location
- Devon, UK
Should be able to answer that in two weeks time. It depends on what the base material costs that has to come from Germany. It will be posted here as soon as I know.
Vacuum Silage
- Thread starter CDavidLance
- Start date
- Location
- Devon, UK
Just putting this video link back in front of people in case you missed it in October. The all important Carbon Dioxide Response that shows you whether your clamp is sealed or not is in this video.
YVCS5 Sheeting Down and Pumping Down.mpg
https://vimeo.com/633619335
YVCS5 Sheeting Down and Pumping Down.mpg
https://vimeo.com/633619335
- Location
- Devon, UK
Further image of Silage Sheet Seam showing a roll rather than a sample.
Has anyone any thoughts of how to build a free standing clamp with a buckrake or telescopic.I remember seeing adds for Stephens Plastics Vac Pac silage and they looked to have been build with fairly straight sides.Not everyone will have access to the JF Unloading trailer like Mr Lance
- Location
- Devon, UK
On a plastic sheet?
What dimensions?
When Vacuum Silage came to the UK in the 1960's the demonstration was on a sheet, using tipping trailers, a three point rear buckrake and handwork. No telehandlers then, but they might be quite useful now because of their reach without going over a sheet. The rear buckraking had to go over the sheet and a lot of people found that too difficult, made a hash of it and gave up.
Telescopic buckrake equipment could make a useful contribution to a modern approach, but there would still be an appreciable amount of handwork to get a distribution that would pump down to a domed clamp. A two person job with one on the stack guiding the other and doing a bit of fork work (and a lot of trusting!) and the other one on a tele-buckrake could work.
If that all sounds too impossible then square bales into a pod approach may be quicker and more mechanised.
Yet another consideration, I think I'd better take a load of photographs and measurements of the self-unloading forage trailer in case anybody wants to start producing it again. I wonder whether JF's blueprints still exist.
We need a contribution from somebody with experience of a telescopic buckrake on this, @davidroberts30 ?
Thank you very much for your reply. I have a collection of older silage machinery and would be very keen to replicate a silage system from the 60s.It would be a relatively small scale project.
I would very keen to see a method for building a clamp as would have been used at the time.
I was thinking of laying out the base sheet and building a grass ramp on the front edge.Subsequently grass could be placed over the ramp face and tided with a graipe.There are numerous videos on youtube of clamps being made in Southern Ireland with build edges.
I would very keen to see a method for building a clamp as would have been used at the time.
I was thinking of laying out the base sheet and building a grass ramp on the front edge.Subsequently grass could be placed over the ramp face and tided with a graipe.There are numerous videos on youtube of clamps being made in Southern Ireland with build edges.
- Location
- Devon, UK
Have you got a link to one of these videos showing build edges?
- Location
- Devon, UK
Got it.
Build edges are made by the bloke with the fork. That particular example requires a good head for heights and confidence in his own technique. The tractor goes up and down the middle, I notice.
That is very similar to what you see Dad doing in the Yalland Silage Videos on Vimeo.
He hauls grass to his edges and treads it down to achieve a density about the same as the rest and then domes the stack to finish.
Grass dollops or ramps can protect the sheet to get going. Clutch work is all important to prevent tearing the under sheet until a safe height has been achieved when buckraking. After that it is just a question of intuitive invention.
Good luck with your clamp. Are you going to use vacuum?
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davidroberts30
Member
- Location
- pembrokeshire
im sweating just watching that
Wellytrack
Member
16 tae breaks per field.
- Location
- Devon, UK
Very UNADVISABLE to fortify the tea with whiskey doing that job. It's not called the falling down water for nothing.
I would intend to try the vacuum system to replicate the system that would have been used in the era of my machinery
Wellytrack
Member
This stuff reminds me what it was like here in the 80’s with the double chop.
The machines only used a fraction of the foller that the men consumed..
The machines only used a fraction of the foller that the men consumed..
Is it necessary to put weight all over the clamp or would a green woven cover and gravel bags or mats be satisfactory?
When I was in New Zealand 20 years ago the clamps were without walls. They normally used a 13t sized 360 tracked excavator to 'stack' the grass.
Could a digger or mini digger be used to avoid the hand fork work.
In my opinion your system will never catch on if it requires hand forking.
Could a digger or mini digger be used to avoid the hand fork work.
In my opinion your system will never catch on if it requires hand forking.
davidroberts30
Member
- Location
- pembrokeshire
nothing needed bar keep the vermin away
when you vacuum the stack the outside atmosphere will press down with 14psi ALL over the top
- Location
- Devon, UK
The objective is to keep the top sheet absolutely still between the time that the Carbon Dioxide Response is drained off and eventual time of feeding out. The way we did this at Yalland was to place a continuous safety sheet over the top of the top sheet and weight that down with an almost continuous depth of soil, but that is very labour intensive and will not suit everybody. Whatever method is used, the test is whether, in a gale, the top sheet stays absolutely still. It also needs to be strong enough not to puncture if wildlife has a go at it. The choice needs to be yours on the actual materials used.