Will I Save Money......

[Granite Farmer]

.....If is switch over to a forage wagon (contractor) to make my silage? My silage cost around £60/ac to get it in the pit last year (raking, lifting, clamping). I did the mowing, tedding and drayed a trailer. Distance from the clamp to the furthest field is less than a mile. Has anybody gone from self propelled to forage wagon and seen a significant saving in harvesting costs?

I am happy with my current contractor but I am getting concerned about the cost and the super singles.

TIA

 

[egbert]

.....If is switch over to a forage wagon (contractor) to make my silage? My silage cost around £60/ac to get it in the pit last year (raking, lifting, clamping). I did the mowing, tedding and drayed a trailer. Distance from the clamp to the furthest field is less than a mile. Has anybody gone from self propelled to forage wagon and seen a significant saving in harvesting costs?

I am happy with my current contractor but I am getting concerned about the cost and the super singles.

TIA

ask for a price.....

 

[Granite Farmer]

ask for a price.....

Ah forage wagons are charged by the hour and when one asks how many acres will it do in an hour the response is 'it depends......'

 

[MJT]

.....If is switch over to a forage wagon (contractor) to make my silage? My silage cost around £60/ac to get it in the pit last year (raking, lifting, clamping). I did the mowing, tedding and drayed a trailer. Distance from the clamp to the furthest field is less than a mile. Has anybody gone from self propelled to forage wagon and seen a significant saving in harvesting costs?

I am happy with my current contractor but I am getting concerned about the cost and the super singles.

TIA

Changed 4 years ago ,about two thirds the price of SPF , and not such a rush or such a mess, wouldn’t go back now. Over 10 years it works out at a big saving, and I like how much more time the man on the pit has to properly roll it .

 

[Stewartry hill]

You will probably have 60% ful e cost

 

[bobk]

Depends how big your crops are .

 

[puppet]

It will cost roughly the same per acre as a SPH to lift it. However you will save on 4 tractors, trailers and fuel to haul it, assuming you can find them. You will have time to buckrake it yourself. We reckoned on saving £1500 on each 100 acre cut.
Best to cut it when leafy as it chops better and the crop goes in the wagon not blown over the sides. Less ground pressure too.

 

[bobk]

It will cost roughly the same per acre as a SPH to lift it. However you will save on 4 tractors, trailers and fuel to haul it, assuming you can find them. You will have time to buckrake it yourself. We reckoned on saving £1500 on each 100 acre cut.
Best to cut it when leafy as it chops better and the crop goes in the wagon not blown over the sides. Less ground pressure too.

My neighbour has bought a wagon , and reckons it's cheaper but his crops are half what they used to cut , and they nearly ran out this year .

 

[puppet]

My neighbour has bought a wagon , and reckons it's cheaper but his crops are half what they used to cut , and they nearly ran out this year .

I don't think he can blame the wagon for a poor crop.

 

[bobk]

I don't think he can blame the wagon for a poor crop.

They harvest smaller crops , it stops the denial .

 

[milkloss]

Watching with interest. I should think it would depend on what sort of silage you’re making, we make heavy cuts of beef cow silage which I don’t think a wagon would be too keen on. Would be pleased for someone to advise.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

You sure it's not cheaper to do bales

 

[An Gof]

.....If is switch over to a forage wagon (contractor) to make my silage? My silage cost around £60/ac to get it in the pit last year (raking, lifting, clamping). I did the mowing, tedding and drayed a trailer. Distance from the clamp to the furthest field is less than a mile. Has anybody gone from self propelled to forage wagon and seen a significant saving in harvesting costs?

I am happy with my current contractor but I am getting concerned about the cost and the super singles.

TIA

You best have a word with @Devon James

Several now using contractors with wagons around SE Cornwall. Even my cousin has changed to a contractor with wagons and he is “really careful”

 

[Weare Cham]

Changed 4 years ago ,about two thirds the price of SPF , and not such a rush or such a mess, wouldn’t go back now. Over 10 years it works out at a big saving, and I like how much more time the man on the pit has to properly roll it .

Yes I did the same, but the pit needs more time to pack correctly.

 

[Al R]

They harvest smaller crops , it stops the denial .

Better quality of cut younger mind! 50 days between cutting should be maximum on any system, 35-38 is optimum on most varieties. This applies to bales, wagon or SPFH.

@davidroberts30 @james ds @ploughman1963 all have wagons

 

[Granite Farmer]

Thanks for the replies so far. I am planning to go after Devon County Show. So the crop will not be massive but hopefully good quality and fed to growing cattle. Bales are not really an option as I feed my grass silage with wholecrop as TMR.

 

[puppet]

Watching with interest. I should think it would depend on what sort of silage you’re making, we make heavy cuts of beef cow silage which I don’t think a wagon would be too keen on. Would be pleased for someone to advise.

We do 2 cuts and they seem to go along at at a good speed around 6 acres per hour hauling up to a mile. Some big tractors help. The grass is longer so we have a second tractor rolling. The loads are much bigger too. Sorry th

e pictures not that great

 

[james ds]

.....If is switch over to a forage wagon (contractor) to make my silage? My silage cost around £60/ac to get it in the pit last year (raking, lifting, clamping). I did the mowing, tedding and drayed a trailer. Distance from the clamp to the furthest field is less than a mile. Has anybody gone from self propelled to forage wagon and seen a significant saving in harvesting costs?

I am happy with my current contractor but I am getting concerned about the cost and the super singles.

TIA

I have switched from a class sp to wagons , my customers prefer the wagon silage to silage made by a sp. we average out at 14 lt / acre for the complete job , the sp was twice this . The running cost on repairs is much less with the wagons , I have a wagon with 6000 acres picked up with out a penny spent on parts . I'd never go back to a sp as the wagon is a much simpler system with less stress and better silage.

 

[6910 Buzz]

I have switched from a class sp to wagons , my customers prefer the wagon silage to silage made by a sp. we average out at 14 lt / acre for the complete job , the sp was twice this . The running cost on repairs is much less with the wagons , I have a wagon with 6000 acres picked up with out a penny spent on parts . I'd never go back to a sp as the wagon is a much simpler system with less stress and better silage.

What make is it

 

[onesiedale]

Changed 4 years ago ,about two thirds the price of SPF , and not such a rush or such a mess, wouldn’t go back now. Over 10 years it works out at a big saving, and I like how much more time the man on the pit has to properly roll it .

+1 , we've been using contractors with a box for 9 years now