That's not rubbish , that's from experience .
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Will I Save Money......
- Thread starter Granite Farmer
- Start date
deleted user 837354
Member
I had a customer with two big herds of cows who used a contractor with wagons (I believe they have 4 wagons) for their grass silage. Very very sharp dairy farmers as well, if there was anything wrong with it they would never do it more than once I assure you. As others have said, if you aren't always worried about getting an entire forager team in all the time then cutting for quality is a lot easier.
multi power
Member
- Location
- pembrokeshire
Both balers and wagons pick up the swath that is presented to them, no reason baler needs a small swath
I cut for a farmer who switchef from bales , he laid a concrete slab and paid for it in one year in the difference of cost between baling and what I charged him. The slab will be there for at least 30 yrs. another cost disadvantage I see here now is the cost of spreading slurry out of sheds using trailing shoes , any where bales are fed it can double the cost of agitating slurry thin enough to get it out through a pipe system.
Try putting a heavy 30 ft sward into a baler and you won't get far. Balers are not designed to take in big swards with lumps of grass in them.
multi power
Member
- Location
- pembrokeshire
It's a while since I last done the sums but bales always worked out cheaper than clamp for me
Plastic cost would have increased 50% but I'd imagine so has concrete
Baled silage getting into the slurry isn't a problem with the correct barrier and management
multi power
Member
- Location
- pembrokeshire
Big swath no problems, go at an appropriate speed
Lumps on the other hand not good for any machine
BDBed
Member
- Location
- Melton Mowbray
As I provide both baled and clamp services I don't favour one over the other and I see how each system suits different farms or the combination on one farm. I would say this though, I have had three new customers approach me because the cost of plastic and the environmental impact. I think one of the biggest jumps has been the cost of disposing of the plastic.
You buy plastic every year , concrete every 30 - 40 yrs , our slab was put down in 1989 and is still perfect. Also we have a great concrete yard for the rest of the year. A lot of farmers are now storing bales on concrete to reduce muck around the yard.
Bossfarmer
Member
- Location
- between Perth and Inverness
what about walls and effulent tank, you are forgetting to factor the DM losses from pit shown by scientific research and your customer who said the pit paid itself in a year hasnt included them either, what do you value 1 tonne DM of reasonable quality silage at? allow for a perfect pit at 10% dm losses(highly unlikely) and bales at 3% so 7% extra DM losses from pit, work it out from there, most farmers will have 12% extra DM losses from pit
Can you explain to me where these losses are , if you strip a bale of silage in a feed passage and spread it out and it gets eaten and bring in a shear grab load from a pit and drop it in the same passage and it all gets eaten , no waste from either , where are these losses .
multi power
Member
- Location
- pembrokeshire
Less energy lost in the fermentation process with bales compared to clamp for a start
And why is that , is the clamp in the research precision chop or wagon silage .
multi power
Member
- Location
- pembrokeshire
Bales are made and sealed a lot quicker
Bossfarmer
Member
- Location
- between Perth and Inverness
unseen losses, its the amount of time between cutting, going in the pit, sealing the pit and all the air in the pit being used up to start fermentation process, also unnavoidable losses no matter how good pit is due to air trapped between silage and pit walls and between silage and sheet
If you use a good additive the fermentation process will be much quicker and at a much lower temperature. To get the air out of the covered pit quicker some lads use the slurry tanker to suck it out , this vacuum packs the grass , pulls the plastic in tight and is a great job.
Bossfarmer
Member
- Location
- between Perth and Inverness
take an average of farmers though, DM losses are far less with bales and must be factored into the cost difference between systems
davidroberts30
Member
- Location
- pembrokeshire
At the end of the day a farmer only cares how big his bill is to get x amount of grass saved for winter
Bossfarmer
Member
- Location
- between Perth and Inverness
if hes spending money on fert he would surely want as much good quality silage as possible
davidroberts30
Member
- Location
- pembrokeshire
I
50 acres for arguments sake
(Prices from round here)
1 cut in July ,2 cuts in 1 payed by the acre,spfh,full job=£2500 plus diesel
2 lighter cuts with wagon
600 to mow and rake it x2=1200
6 hours x2 wagon and fork =1440with diesel saved similar cost to spfh but quality difference in pit is unmeasurable
Baler x 2 cuts 1200 mow and rake
750(800kg) bales to be same amount of grass as what wagon would do(50 loads of grass over 2 cuts,12ton each load)
4500 to bale and wrap 750 bales plus carting
Tell me where the farmer is going to spend his money
I Could give you 3 or more answers to that
50 acres for arguments sake
(Prices from round here)
1 cut in July ,2 cuts in 1 payed by the acre,spfh,full job=£2500 plus diesel
2 lighter cuts with wagon
600 to mow and rake it x2=1200
6 hours x2 wagon and fork =1440with diesel saved similar cost to spfh but quality difference in pit is unmeasurable
Baler x 2 cuts 1200 mow and rake
750(800kg) bales to be same amount of grass as what wagon would do(50 loads of grass over 2 cuts,12ton each load)
4500 to bale and wrap 750 bales plus carting
Tell me where the farmer is going to spend his money