Silage 2020

Your only a number to the big lads .
they wouldnt be a big lad long with an attitude like that

What does the contractor do on those days - stand down his tractor drivers?
our chopper doesnt leave they yard without the rest of the team , jobs have been turned down in the past , others can cut it and they can put extra trailers on and get in the way on the pit if they insist

That's a sweeping statement I think and tbh I can't agree.
I know there's some lads on here farming and contracting and I don't want to offend them.
Anyone around here that's milking cows and at hire work the gear is hanging constantly getting broke down and in general doing what I'd class as bad work.
theres a lot of work goes into maitaining the kit choppers are constantly getting serviced , checked over , knifes getting chapped forward etc etc , dairy farmers tend to have plenty other work to be getting on with elsewhere
 
From previous experience using a 4 rotor rake some grass just flowed nice and it didn't lump it other grass it made a balls of it
its easy to lump it with the 4 rotor , especially sticky leafy grass , and anything thats been skattered out can be an arse , but they can be shut in to 40ft , running down 30ft swaths with big harvesters is madness
we work for many year with the 2 rotor lely , 40 ft swaths , it did a great job , unfortunatly it was high maintanence , went through tines like nothing else , im sure its had 2 full sets of arms , bearings for ever more , its still parked up in the shed as a back up .
it was replaced with the krone equivalent think it was the 1000 , bought brand new , broke down second day out , and it just went down hill from there , eventually got replaced with a 4 rotor demo krone half way through the season ,the big rotors just cant cope the same with the undulating ground ,and because there moving so much grass they need to be close to the ground , local farmer comented hes getting less stones in his feed passage since we switched to the 4 rotor
 
Noticing a big change in our grassland managment this year.
70 acres used to fill the pit.
Finishing the last few bits of 100 ac this morning and will just be full.
Nice young stuff.
 
Noticing a big change in our grassland managment this year.
70 acres used to fill the pit.
Finishing the last few bits of 100 ac this morning and will just be full.
Nice young stuff.
quality not quantity:Thumbp2:
 
Noticing a big change in our grassland managment this year.
70 acres used to fill the pit.
Finishing the last few bits of 100 ac this morning and will just be full.
Nice young stuff.

Then you have to add fibre to that young stuff :undecided:. Hard to beat mineralized more mature silage. I have never seen the proclaimed performance from silage in the mid 70s DMD
 
Then you have to add fibre to that young stuff :undecided:. Hard to beat mineralized more mature silage. I have never seen the proclaimed performance from silage in the mid 70s DMD

I suppose it's real benefit is to young growing stock more than anything else according to the experts in any event.
 
Then you have to add fibre to that young stuff :undecided:. Hard to beat mineralized more mature silage. I have never seen the proclaimed performance from silage in the mid 70s DMD

Would agree with you to a degree if young leafy grass isnt pulped to dust with the harvestor.ideal lenght really 2.5 inch chop lenght but contractors snd and loader men wouldnt be keen on it.gives the cow some to cud on properly.healther rumen and a happier cow and farmer
 
Would agree with you to a degree if young leafy grass isnt pulped to dust with the harvestor.ideal lenght really 2.5 inch chop lenght but contractors snd and loader men wouldnt be keen on it.gives the cow some to cud on properly.healther rumen and a happier cow and farmer
best use a wagon then....
 
Then you have to add fibre to that young stuff :undecided:. Hard to beat mineralized more mature silage. I have never seen the proclaimed performance from silage in the mid 70s DMD
why grow bellyfill then spend all winter feeding grub to them so they perform?
 
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why grow bellyfill then spend all winter feeding grub to them so they perform?

I dont feed much meal, but I dont consider what I targeting to make as belly fill. Think of what happens when you put cattle on after grass push hard with nitrogen this time of the year, their weight gain drops back. Mineralized good quality mature silage is now what I prefer. I have made plenty of 35 day growing silage in the past that we are lead to believe it's the dogs bollix, I never got the thrive off it.
 
Lots of lads around here use the wagon, then throw it into the diet feeder in the winter!!
 
Well it works well for sheep!
It's what they want to graze so surely what they'd want in the shed too.

All I know is that sheep milk well off good young silage.
It wouldn't be pure leaf by a long way.
And the Mengele sh40 doesn't chop it to dust either.
 
Who's adding straw:scratchhead:

All our suckler cows have wheat or barley straw mixed with their ration, they want maintainence n fibre not fat n the shits!! TBF the beefers also get free acces to barley straw in rings always eats no ot!!
 
All our suckler cows have wheat or barley straw mixed with their ration, they want maintainence n fibre not fat n the shits!! TBF the beefers also get free acces to barley straw in rings always eats no ot!!
Mine have plenty of straw on the beds,if they want a nibble...
 
Your right there Arthur, flying around the field with 900 hp picking up 30ts doesn't give you output, the big swathe is the answer for the big hp harvester..
troy doesn't cut the grass here only the maize the lads that cut here have the smallest krone and can put away our 140 acres first cut with a long draw in a day.
 
Would consider it surely not sure where nearest wagon is as probaly 65 to 70 % of silage is in bales in this neck of the woods
Are you in North or South Leitrim? There's a fair sized baling contractor that has a wagon near keshcarrigan. He bought the wagon mainly for his own use but does contracting work with it too. I only know 2 or 3 in this area that he does for but he has a number of customers for it around ballinamore. He has a few customers for it over the bridge too.
 
troy doesn't cut the grass here only the maize the lads that cut here have the smallest krone and can put away our 140 acres first cut with a long draw in a day.
Surely a handy machine will do for a long draw. I dont understand the size of choppers when a good bit of the time they are stopped in the field waiting for trailers.
 
Are you in North or South Leitrim? There's a fair sized baling contractor that has a wagon near keshcarrigan. He bought the wagon mainly for his own use but does contracting work with it too. I only know 2 or 3 in this area that he does for but he has a number of customers for it around ballinamore. He has a few customers for it over the bridge too.
Phelim used do for a lad beside me a few yrs ago.different rigs since.havent heard of him doing anyone in ballinamore since.mcgerty far side of carrigallen has one and a new krone went from wilsons up to gortlettra to a dairyman with robots in there in may.donohoes up at legga have a malone
 
But you only have one machine for all the jobs
Rarely is the harvester the bottleneck for a silage cutting crew, usually its the size of pit and how awkward the yard is plus length of draw for trailer turnaround. Rarely a queue waiting for the forager all day.
 
Phelim used do for a lad beside me a few yrs ago.different rigs since.havent heard of him doing anyone in ballinamore since.mcgerty far side of carrigallen has one and a new krone went from wilsons up to gortlettra to a dairyman with robots in there in may.donohoes up at legga have a malone
He picked up for a neighbour here last week. He did for a few down around ballinamore and aughnasheelan this year according to his father anyway.
 
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