silage

I've done hay for years and years, never tried silage. In spring I always have the problem of grass getting too mature while waiting for a weather window, or of getting hay rained on several times, sometimes both. Making silage would solve that problem, and since we have sheep, goats, pigs, and horses, and will have cattle the silage would be usable. It would seem to save a lot of headache early on, and even though silage might not be great for horses, having it for the rest of the livestock would free up more late hay. So my question is this,what equipment do I have to have, and what sort of storage to I need to build. Minimum investment is important, as I have a pretty dismal budget.

I was just talking to a guy about this yesterday. I have a small silo I'd like to use for haylage but I'm told upright silos and grass hay are tricky. I'll be watching this thread to see what advice you get.

Not sure where to start. First around here we call it haylage. Second thing that comes to mind is how many cattle are you feeding? If your feeding only a few cattle you will end up with a bunch of spoiled crap in the silo that nothing will eat. I try to remove 6 inches/day for a 16' diameter tower silo. If I had to do it over I think I'd set up for making baleage, hay that is baled wet/tough and wrapped in plastic to preserve it until needed. Third thing is cattle might be the only thing I'd feed haylage to, never heard of haylage being fed to pigs, goats, or sheep but I could be wrong.

If the hay got too dry we would put a garden hose shooting directly into the blower. Never really had any problems, the cattle liked it and that wasd ll that mattered.

I make silage in bales, usually bale 24 to 36 hours after cutting (weather makes the difference) then wrap in a tube. I rent a wrapper cost me $8 a bale for wrap and wrapper last year. I've wrapped the bales in the field (quicker but you have to haul bales all winter) and brought the bales back to the yard and wrapped there (slower but less work in the winter).
Bale silage is probably the least capital expensive as you can probably use the baler you currently have. It does however cost slightly more for wrap and wrapping each year.

Sheep and goats can surely eat haylage. Horses I'd be real careful trying to feed haylage to.

I've been told that wilt and moisture are critical in making haylage in an upright silo. Anyone care to expand on that?

Individual round bale wrapper with a good modern baler.

Or good modern round baler and inline wrapper.

Upright silo is major expensive, not best for hay.

Pit silo you need to use a certain amount off the face per day, you sound too small to make that work well?

Paul

Grass silage packs tighter and is much heavier than corn silage per cubic foot and for that reason an upright silo needs more support rings spaced closer together to handle the additional pressure exerted by grass silage as compared to corn silage. Alternatively, if your silo is in generally good condition then you could probably just fill it 1/2 to 2/3 full and it would still be strong enough. There are several weight tables available on the internet giving the various silage weights per foot in different size up right silos.

Maybe someone in your area does custom bagging, very easy and fast and does not take much work to keep the bags protected and in good shape.

I've been just letting this one go for a little bit, just to see what gets posted. You guys are right, I am pretty small. 20 head of sheep and goats, and am looking at 10 to 15 head of Dexters. I don't round bale, and my square baler is nearly as old as I am. I don't have a silo either, but was looking at a narrow trench or bunker. This is all just brainstorming at the moment anyway, looking at alternatives. Spring cutting is always a challenge to get in, and silage seemed like a way to avoid problems.

You will have too much waste with a small bunker or trench. Round bale silage with individual bags or wrapped. Hire it baled.

The problem with the wrapping suggestions is money and time. The few custom wrappers in my area charge an arm and both legs, and they aren't any too quick about showing up. Then there's the cost of the plastic and getting rid of it. For rounds you need a silage baler, not just any old baler will do.

Seems like there's always a downside to any idea.

Look's like I'll just keep fighting the weather. I am pretty sure no one around here does custom silage baling. I am pretty sure that only a handful of people are doing silage at all.

Would it make more sense to put up the hay and grind it later adding anything else you need to the mix?

To "me" this does not seem necessary. Granted, you can take lower quality forages and grind and mix in other ingredients so as to come up with a more nutritious ration. Grinding hay seems to be a regional thing. I suppose if you had 300 head plus, this system would be economically feasible. For the average livestock producer, the grinding equipment is cost prohibitive. Obviously, you'd have to use custom operators. The lower qulaity forages that are ground still remain "lower quality". I think the original poster was wanting to lower his weather risks associated with putting up quality hay. Silage bales definitely do this. I've made silage bales for 7-8 years now....finally progressing to buying my own used individual bale wrapper...eliminating the hassles of the custom wrapper guys. I still hire the baler man to make the silage bales, but do all wrapping myself. Silage bales are the "poor mans silo", but with current investment costs into the "real silo's" and the associated equipment, I feel the silage bales more than justify the expense. In my operation, round bale silage takes 80% (perhaps more) of the weather hassles out of the equation...giving me in my opinion, 80% better forage as compared to dry baled hay. I say let the cow do the grinding of the hay, but give her better hay.........if at all possible.

You hit the nail on the head, I'm not putting up poor quality hay, my early stuff is mostly clover. I am however getting it wet most years, or letting it go too long waiting for a weather window. The individual bales sound like the way to go. So I need a good round baler, and a wrapper?

I have no idea where you are located so this may or may not help. Most of our local Farm Bureau's have 1 or 2 inline wrappers to rent. I've been paying 2.00 rent and it costs me another $2.00 for plastic. Makes good silage and also adds storage it you want to wrap dry hay, just make sure to sweat it first in the barn.

Here's a way to do haylage for a small scale farmer.
bailing the hay part 4 of haymaking 2013 - YouTube
Wraping the hay part 5 of haymaking 2013 - YouTube

Ya gotta be joking Jim! :shock: