What's the future of wrapped bales?

[Whitewalker]

Making silage is like making love.

The aim isn't to get it over as quick as possible but rather to make it as good as you can!

Well there has been many’s a comparison made to this but never with making silage

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

Well there has been many’s a comparison made to this but never with making silage

Aye and it's OK as long as another contractor does not turn up

 

[jerseycowsman]

Many years since I’ve been involved in pit silage but back in the 90s that didn’t happen. Don’t pits have effluent tanks any more? We would tanker it out and spread back on the grassland where it made a huge difference to the re growth.

We haven’t had any effluent for years, mowers with spreaders on and giant spreaders/rakes make it so easy to get to 30% DM and above where you get no effluent

 

[glasshouse]

We haven’t had any effluent for years, mowers with spreaders on and giant spreaders/rakes make it so easy to get to 30% DM and above where you get no effluent

Exactly
We did our own chopping so we could make sure of no effluent

 

[glasshouse]

Maybe i should start running courses on haymaking?

 

[happycows]

I’ve been mulling over options last couple years. Friend I help has self propelled and was pushing me to go that way.
For me and my system I just didn’t feel clamp was way to go as I do 25 acres in a afternoon with baler and wrapper working around what grass I have working around zero grazing.
Even better I can do this on my own with one tractor without having to find a army of staff which seems to be a nightmare these days.
I’ve gone for Massey belt baler and Mchale orbital wrapper. At a 4ft 4 bale and a really good wilt to get it 35/38% dm in 24hrs I can then feed 100 cows on 3 bales as opposed to 4 fusion bales from years gone by with contractors.
I think it’s a good compromise that is suited to me and my system.

 

[Shebb90]

3rd cut I’m using the now from last year, simple pit plenty quality. View attachment 1039206

When did you cut that?

 

[som farmer]

l got put off wrapping, when we were told, square wrapped bales, had to be £20, haven't heard any round bale prices, but know of 2 contractors that won't do any this year.
Running out of pit room, after 1st cut, just hoping for some decent weather, to make some, into hay. Cow silage, is all catered for, already, with a huge 1st cut.

 

[crashbox]

@box my view is there's a place for both but I cannot see the economic advantage of investing in my own kit.
Phone call is easy.

 

[spin cycle]

Making silage is like making love.

The aim isn't to get it over as quick as possible but rather to make it as good as you can!

 

[Bury the Trash]

Evening.

I currently make about 1,000 wrapped bales a season and have been slowly gearing up to do my own baling in order to cut costs and add flexibility (and stress).

With net/wrap/disposal costs rising and a growing social discontent regarding plastic wrap (and everything else that farmers do for that matter..........don't get me started), I'm starting to think that I'm wasting my time and I'm better off to focus my attention on cheaper, "greener" ways of silaging (i.e. sticking it in a pile, covering it and letting the effluent leach out into the environment).

Wrapped bales have been mainstream for, what, 30 years now? I can't see them going anywhere any time soon. But times are changing. Costs continue to rise. They're already talking about adding tax to the price of the wrap. The current "recycling" programs don't actually do any recycling at all so that's hardly a "sustainable" option in the eyes of the powers that be. Milk prices have stabilised/started dropping.

As spring 2022 rolls around in NZ, I'm wondering at what point should I stop baling the stuff and go back to putting it in the pit? At what point does the cost outweigh the convenience? Spring 2021 baling prices were eye watering, I've heard some alarming numbers being thrown around for this upcoming season. I'm one of the last ones around here that still bales everything, the rest have gone back to putting it all in stacks, pits, concrete bunkers.

TL,DR: thinking long term, do I buy a rake and baler or do I just quit while I'm ahead and have a contractor put it all in a stack from now on? At this stage, the economics of baling don't stack up even if I do it all myself.

i know a guy who refers to wrapped bales as being gift wrapped ,
and in the not too distant future people will look back and laugh their heads of at it and lots of other things as well.

 

[steveR]

Maybe i should start running courses on haymaking?

In the Lothians?

Sounds a fun course.....

 

[glasshouse]

In the Lothians?

Sounds a fun course.....

Hay is the cheapest feed, if u get it right
Should get a subsidy

 

[DrDunc]

In the Lothians?

Sounds a fun course.....

That's the undergraduate course

Next level up is Lanarkshire, then the meagre few with exceptional abilities do one in Ayrshire

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

That's the undergraduate course

Next level up is Lanarkshire, then the meagre few with exceptional abilities do one in Ayrshire

There is always a dry spell in Ayrshire in July, it usually lasts for 8 to 10 days, no more than 2 together at a time though

 

[Dead Rabbits]

Having your own machinery is up to you to decide whether it’s viable or not. It can definitely have its advantages if you are a mechanical minded person with the help and discipline to keep things timely.

We don’t really have contractor options so rely on one person who only does bales for us. Better than having your own equipment and nobody to run it.

As far as whether or not plastic wrap will be regulated in the future. When has it ever paid to be compliant and agreeable with bureaucracy? Don’t lay down for them and make it easy.

 

[fgc325j]

Hay is the cheapest feed, if u get it right
Should get a subsidy

Recipe for making top class hay - No 1 check forecast for min 5days sunny weather - min 20c with light breeze.
Subsidy !!!! - straight away the price of baling, twine/net goes up 30-40%.

 

[David1968]

Recipe for making top class hay - No 1 check forecast for min 5days sunny weather - min 20c with light breeze.

Every 4c above 20 will knock a day off it.

A lot of other variables too though. Coming out of a very wet spell can add days to it, especially if the ground is soaking. On the tail end of a drought you can do it in 2 days. There is no 'one fits all' recipe.

 

[box]

When has it ever paid to be compliant and agreeable with bureaucracy? Don’t lay down for them and make it easy.

When the dairy company and/or meat processor starts withholding a portion of the payment or automatically deducting levies because you're classed as a "high" emitter. When "they" start adding some kind of "tax" to a product you need because it's not considered to be "green". It's already happening.

Hay is the cheapest feed, if u get it right

You're right.

@box my view is there's a place for both but I cannot see the economic advantage of investing in my own kit.
Phone call is easy.

You're right, the phone call is easy. It doesn't necessarily mean the contractor will come when they say (or if they'll come at all). The last two seasons with closed borders and overworked/understaffed contractors and untrained drivers has been a nightmare. This season is likely to be more of the the same unfortunately.

Re. the economics behind owning my own equipment, I think I could make it work by buying the right gear at the right price (i.e. older yet reliable gear which is already near the bottom of its depreciation curve & purchased outright) and doing my own spannering. So far it's worked out well for me with any other work I've brought in house.......of course it's all one major breakdown away from financial disaster.

i know a guy who refers to wrapped bales as being gift wrapped ,
and in the not too distant future people will look back and laugh their heads of at it and lots of other things as well.

Laugh about it in a "wow, look at how thoughtful we were!" sort of way, or "wow, look at how wasteful we were!" sort of way?

So the plan* for now is I've "ordered" a couple of loads of tyres, I'll put as much in a stack as I can. I'll probably bale the later stuff (150-200 bales) to use as winter feed because f*ck playing with wet frozen tyres in the winter. Ideally this late stuff should be hay, but all the haybarns around here have fallen down or blown away with the wind and never been rebuilt (because everyone moved to wrapped bales) so I've nowhere to store them.

*Plan is subject to change at any time.

 

[som farmer]

wrapped silage, took all the risk out of haymaking, if the weather was changeable, in fact it soon took over from haymaking. Having been buying fodder to feed our dairy, through 3 years, of little grass growth, the easiest 'thing' to buy/transport was hay. The bigger surprise, was how the cows performed off it, no milk loss, but much higher fat and protein, we have continued to feed some hay, but no longer, as 40% of the ration.
We all hated the weather haymaking, and l think we were pleased to have an alternative, and quick to change. Perhaps a bit to quick.