A different silage pit

KFD68 · May 25, 2012

Waiting to go down the farm drive to tip our loads

Tight squeeze at the entrance to the farm yard

Most farmers in this area store their silage in buildings to help protect it from the weather {it still gets sheeted in plastic to make it air tight}

RedRoundhead · May 25, 2012

You guys must like those JCB's. Seems that there is one in every picture.

agman · May 25, 2012

What is the advantage of a shed if yuou already got plastic over the silage? Seems we only cut back plastic as silage is fed off the front face, so it stays covered until it is fed. I guess I don't quite get the advantage of an added roof.

paul · May 25, 2012

That certainly is different, the plastic here in the USA weathers pretty good so no other building roof is used.

Interesting to see.

--->Paul

JMS/.MN · May 25, 2012

Just curious- with the high road speed tractors in Europe- 35 mph or so, are the tires loaded with fluid? Years ago I towed an AC tractor behind a pickup at somewhat over 30 mph, got a bit over 100 miles when the rear tire blew- fluid pretty well wore out the tube, couldn"t keep up at that speed.

KFD68 · May 27, 2012

(quoted from post at 18:56:30 05/25/12)
What is the advantage of a shed if yuou already got plastic over the silage? Seems we only cut back plastic as silage is fed off the front face, so it stays covered until it is fed. I guess I don't quite get the advantage of an added roof.

Before the advent of the block cutting silage fork, the silage was stored inside sheds with small bale straw on top. The cows could "graze" the front of the silage under cover and the straw bales thrown down for bedding.

Today the enviromental police monitor ALL waste products on farms, NO dirty or contaminated water is allowed to seep away into watercourses or streams to prevent polution. It has to be drained into storage lagoons and pumped onto fields along with liquid cow manure - at a cost.

So any rain that falls onto a shed roof is "clean" and can flow down into streams.

Huskers86 · May 27, 2012

We had a customer that had a roof over his bunker and they would fill it up too much and get the packer/dozer tractor up against the roof and side wall every year trying to pack the sides too late. The tractor would slide over there and then they'd get us to get it out of there. lol. They finnally bent a cab up pretty good. Looking at the pics I wonder why you guys never use a dozer blade and push the silage. Is it so you can get it into different spots?

Ralph Bauer · Jun 3, 2012

Wondering about all that new, late model and shiny equipment! Do you lease or buy new every year??? Here, we use and use and use it over and over and over, and fix and fix it, too.....(at least some of us ;-) ...) Just curious

KFD68 · Jun 3, 2012

(quoted from post at 17:32:08 06/03/12) Wondering about all that new, late model and shiny equipment! Do you lease or buy new every year??? Here, we use and use and use it over and over and over, and fix and fix it, too.....(at least some of us ;-) ...) Just curious

These machines belong to a contractor who needs equipment to be reliable and not break down :lol:

The normal lease or finance deals last for 3 years. Many of the tractors will have done 4500-6000 hours in 3 years, and thats when major mechanical breakdowns start to occur.

CaseIH right now are offering 3 years warranty & 0% finance over 3 years. For a contractor that makes sense - avoids unexpected costly breakdowns , and he is able to cost his operation more accurately.

Not everything is changed at 3 years, depends on the hours worked, the reliability and available money to replace to take income tax incentives.
If you've made a big profit in a year, buying new machinery can reduce that income tax demand.

Plus some larger farmers insist that the contractor only used up to date machinery to avoid breakdowns & delays in the work.

KFD68 · Jun 3, 2012

Those red trailers were built 12 years ago by the contractor using ideas taken from the best commercially made trailers on the market. Over the years they have been rebuilt many times, improvements to suspension, brakes etc. ie they now have air operated braking systems with compensators so the brakes dont lock on, but brake progressively as they are applied.

The self propelled mower "the Locust" was hand made 9 years ago from scratch using an old NH forager heavily modified and fitted with new Claas mower/conditioners. Its cut around 9000 acres each year, thats 75,000 acres give or take a few thousand! Not a bad investment in money & time.

A different silage pit

KFD68

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RedRoundhead

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agman

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paul

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JMS/.MN

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KFD68

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Huskers86

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Ralph Bauer

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KFD68

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