Wanted: a new method of ensilage.

Would grain be cheaper or dearer to buy than the cost of the fuel to dry the grass for the same feed value?
As with most things it'd be pretty much evens but you'd have a huge fuel bill, plus you'd have to grow more grass and for a currently unknown reason cattle seem to limit their intake when fed even dried pelleted grass alone with another forage such as hay or silage. You may acquire a higher intake with silage and grain which would offset the benefit of the grass pellet or dried grass meal which is actually higher feed value and more digestible.
 
The 2ay I see it is this, if your zero grazer can get the grass out of the field then use it to do so. If you could put a set of teaser rotors on like they have on the continental silage wagons it would make it easier pit. But basically bring it in with the zero grazer and roll the shit out of the pit with the Volvo. It's the only economical way of doing it. You can pump out the effluent with the slurry.
 
There's a lad near Aberdeen in Scotland who dries bales.
Went there on a tour.

He basically put a lid on an old slatted shed channel, with round holes in. And sat the bales on end over the holes.
32 at a time I think it was.
A day to dry them from dry silage to a % that would store without plastic I think.

Now I don't think he used warm air but dry air. (I could be totaly wrong here, had a serious hangover at the time!)

Fairly sure he had some kind of system to dry the air he was blowing through them.
Would flip the bales with softhands mounted on a rotator headstock half way through.

The feed quality was good. His market was race horses and pedigree sheep breeders.
Fairly sure he was selling bales for £40 - 50 each. Remember thinking it was too cheep considering a mate of mine was getting £35 a bale for crap field hay!
That's exactly the same set up as I saw on one farm in Austria, air blown through concrete channels and through round bales. The air was heated by a very large wood chip fired boiler.
The guy was milking cows and used all hay and some alfalfa which was imported from Germany. He didn't make any silage, said that the co op he was supplying milk to were making a particular type of cheese and they wanted hay used as feeding silage could affect the cheese... He was getting 51 cent a litre tho IIRC
 
The 2ay I see it is this, if your zero grazer can get the grass out of the field then use it to do so. If you could put a set of teaser rotors on like they have on the continental silage wagons it would make it easier pit. But basically bring it in with the zero grazer and roll the shit out of the pit with the Volvo. It's the only economical way of doing it. You can pump out the effluent with the slurry.

That may be the plan yet,I’m 1000t short of silage and it’s sat out in the field and I can’t get it,with a zero grazer I could chip away at it.

A couple of years ago I was thinking of using a front mower and an I-bio baler,still could be an option,at least any effluent would be in the wrap,social distancing wouldn’t be a problem after opening them.:lol:
 
The 2ay I see it is this, if your zero grazer can get the grass out of the field then use it to do so. If you could put a set of teaser rotors on like they have on the continental silage wagons it would make it easier pit. But basically bring it in with the zero grazer and roll the shit out of the pit with the Volvo. It's the only economical way of doing it. You can pump out the effluent with the slurry.
So you would be happy wasting soluble sugars and proteins?
 
That may be the plan yet,I’m 1000t short of silage and it’s sat out in the field and I can’t get it,with a zero grazer I could chip away at it.

A couple of years ago I was thinking of using a front mower and an I-bio baler,still could be an option,at least any effluent would be in the wrap,social distancing wouldn’t be a problem after opening them.:lol:
If you do bale it don't stack them. We made stuff once in November and it was 18% dm but 17% pro and 88dmd, it was rocket fuel! We drew the bales to the corner of the fields with a double lifter and dropped them the same way we lifted them iykwim. Did it for handiness more than anything but it worked out for the best cause my uncle made similar stuff and put it on its end and it was a total disaster, far more effluent and as they sagged the plastic loosened.
 
So you would be happy wasting soluble sugars and proteins?
If it's the difference between getting it in or turning to dung in the field yes. And as you know yourself in farming alot of the time it's not being a case of happiness, it's needing to get the job done.
 
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If it's the difference between getting it in or turning to dung in the field yes. And as you know yourself in farming alot of the time it's not being a case of happiness, it's needing to get the job done.
The alternative is work out how to keep it separate from the slurry and use it as a liquid feed.
 
Oh yea I forgot about that, there is a project that was even in Ireland doing similar.
My brother worked as a student on a project like this in 1972 . It was in Grange and McAuleys grass drying company. Nothing has fundamentally changed. It is Alchemy. People always want to get something cheap and turn it into something expensive.
 
If you do bale it don't stack them. We made stuff once in November and it was 18% dm but 17% pro and 88dmd, it was rocket fuel! We drew the bales to the corner of the fields with a double lifter and dropped them the same way we lifted them iykwim. Did it for handiness more than anything but it worked out for the best cause my uncle made similar stuff and put it on its end and it was a total disaster, far more effluent and as they sagged the plastic loosened.
I don’t think grazed grass at 1200 covers is 88dmd which is pure leaf, how does November silage end up at it?
 
I’m just thinking outside the box and thinking of a way to get some grass in,rain every day here and ground was very wet for 2nd cut and it’s way worse now.:tdown:

Just fuck it in and let the effluent run out. Feed a shake of meal Will be cheaper than buying a whole load of equipment. Might be super weather next year.
 
I don’t think grazed grass at 1200 covers is 88dmd which is pure leaf, how does November silage end up at it?
Well my memory isn't so good n I guess it'll make a liar out of me. 25%dm in last week of October 88.6ivdmd. Always thought it was wetter than that. May have been a different cut actually.
 

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Well my memory isn't so good n I guess it'll make a liar out of me. 25%dm in last week of October 88.6ivdmd. Always thought it was wetter than that. May have been a different cut actually.
Funny now looking at it with no lactic acid or any acids. Cause from memory it never did make. Unreal feed it was. Couldn't replicate it if I tried though.
 
I just go on how well they milk off a batch. I wouldn't be able to understand the figures so wouldn't be able to explain to the cows about it.
What's with the sarcasm lad. Don't be so defeatist. It ok if you've no interest in trying to understand the processes of making better quality preserved forage but I don't think you need to shit on other people's interest or attempts at trying to do so.
I get it, the cows only eat what you can bring in to them blah blah. If you've no further interest in it than that then why join in the conversation at all?
 
Yea ivdmd I think reads higher than dmd. Not sure how much though. Think is it by 3 points??
I’ve asked a few knowledgeable people before what’s the difference between the 2 and I’ve never really gotten a proper answer. All I do know is that I’ve never seen any silage no matter when it was cut or what ever type of grass in a bale or put to ever test out over 78DMD and that’s the normal DMD so that’s 81 ivdmd if you add the 3 hence i wondered about the test from the additive supplier.
 
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