What happens to Silage

Never done any silage and was wondering what happens when it is stored in a pit or silo that makes it good. I know it has something to do with the mositure content. I know all theair needs to be out to stop mold.

Fermentation process happens converting the sugars to other compounds. I'll let the guys with bunker/pit experience address the moisture needed but the upright silos want in the neighborhood of 30 to 35 percent.
For fermentation and minimal molding the material needs to be deprived of oxygen as much as possible. With uprights this is a minimal problem but pit silo you need to cover with plastic (after you have packed the material) and use something such as old tires to hold the plastic in place.
Corn in the field needs to have the black layer on the kernel with some dent but moist after that. If you cut a stalk 12 inches from the ground you should be able to squeeze juice out but it should not readily run out without squeezing. Overall plant appearance should be green with some yellow at the fringe of the leaves and ear. Plant material should be dry (not harvested in the rain) because the excess water will trap nitrate gasses inside the silage, spoiling the material. However, if you think the material is too dry, you can deliver water at a rate of 5 gal/ min via garden hose into the blower. The pit/bunker guys will have to advise you about adding water in that situation.
My preference would be to use a upright silo if available or find someone to bag it for you

Been 20-plus years since I put up silage, but did so far several decades....in trenches w/concrete floors. We always cut in the hard dough stage; didn't want to beat the milk out of the grain, but didn't want it to shell, either; that was July and August in West TN. We kept a tractor running/packing all day to force the air out, when it wasn't unloading trailers. Covered the silage with 6 mil black plastic, edges sealed with dirt and completely covered with tires. When we opened it up, it smelled good enough to eat..........

You can rent baggers. It's really easy and fast.

1/2 milk line is about 65% moisture about right right for corn silage,it chops better and has enough moisture to pack down, ensiling usies up the oxygen, black layer is way too dry around here and is it isn't packed tighly or is too dry it will mold, uprights will compress themselves, piles should be driven over

I think you meant the moisture content for corn silage should be about 65%. Dry matter would be 35%. Adding water at 5 gpm would change the moisture content by what? Depends on the rate of unloading, and is at best a stop-gap measure. Doing the math between ensiling at 65% vs. say 40% when the stalks are brown- no way to add enough water to make up for that. Simply has to be cut at the right stage.

I have ate some. It ain't that bad, lol.

Do you have any animals and put up silage JMS?

Gosh there has been a lot of corn silage made with what looked like dry corn adding water works no matter what the math says. Those old cows pick the good out. Packing is the secret those big tractors with duals are not the best. Better than a snow drift for feed. Making good silage is like beer making it is an ART.

Dad used to run a garden hose into the blower, personally I think he was wasting his time, maybe a 2" hose might have helped, silage should be put up at the right time, too wet and the silo runs, too dry and it wont ensile right, also dry leaves are hard to chop fine so when feeding you always have leaves stuck on the tines if feeding by hand, poor silage is a waste of good corn and money and if moldy is not good for cows

Fermintation..........

Assuming appropriate moisture content and access to oxygen is limited to the least amount of time possible......

When the feed is placed in the silo naturally occuring aerobic bacteria (using what air is in there) begin to grow on the feed. Air exculsion is important as these bacteria damage the feed quality, mainly by the generation of heat.

Once they have used up all the oxygen anaerobic femintation starts with lactobacillus. They give off lactic acid as a byproduct. At a certain pH (its been 20 years since I read my class notes on this so I dont remember exactly where) the acidity is such that the lactobacillus stop reproducing and either propionic or butyeric acid bacteria start. If the silage is too wet you get butyric acid and a rancid butter smell. Too dry and you actually get long chain fatty alcohols. If its just right you get propionic acid which preserves the silage, aids in digestion, and that characteristic silage smell. 45-65 pct moisture is a good range here for corn silage though we are runnin now in the high 30s and bagging it. The bags do a better job of excluding air than in a stave silo so you can get away with a larger range.

They other guys have it pretty much covered. We rent a bagger once in a while if we have enough corn, or in the spring when we chop our 1st crop. The bag makes the best feed I've ever seen, but silos aren't bad either provided they're solid and not full of holes and busted concrete. Bunk silos and piles work, but for a smaller guy like us, it's a lot of time and wasted feed if not done properly.

We will run water up with the feed if it's really dry going in the silo, and it helps. Espescially with haylage. Haylage can be very difficult to blow, so we prefer to bag it. Makes great feed that way and the cows milk like crazy.



Donovan from Wisconsin
bagging
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HIN_dvRQwCk&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HIN_dvRQwCk&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

JMS is absolutely correct about using a hose into the blower to try to correct over dry silage. It does absolutely no noticeable change in the dry matter of the silage coming out of the silo. When I was at MSU we did tests and proved it every time. You just can not add enough water thru a 3/4 inch hose to make any difference. The only time adding water at the blower does any thing is when blowing haylage. The added water has no effect on the haylage but it does help slick up the blower band the fill pipe to help sticky haylage make it to the top. It helps with alfalfa haylage but the biggest assistance comes if you ever have to blow clover up a silo. And yes I have cattle and have filled everything from a wooden 8x25 to a 30x120 poured and even a 25x90 harvestore.

Don, I see the Olie is nice and clean sitting there stuffing silage. need some pictures looking down the hood in the corn field.

When I worked for Gehl we had guys that we tested at a couple farmers that would get "bad" scratch-n-dent chocolate from the choc. plant and pour that over the top of the bunk silos. If they caught the time right the choc would melt and seal the top of the bunker. They would just scoop up the choc and feed it too. No plastic or tires to mess with. Not sure how well it worked. I would think the choc on top would spoil. Others would dump bags of choc in the TMR. Would be a pain opening all those 1/2-lbs bags.

I have a couple pictures (like this one) from a few years ago. This year our 1855 is laid up without an engine. Hopefully we can pick it up today or tomorrow.

Donovan from Wisconsin

So what are you chopping with this year? Getting a new motor or overhaul, or repower?

Passed a field on the way home from work tonight being combined. I would say the corn was still green enough for the silo yet. Some corn looks ready here (Northern Indiana) and some is just at chopping stage. Seen a few beans cut but I"m sure they"re tough.

Thanks for posting pictures. Filling silo with Olivers is one of my favorite things. Been about 23 years now. Need to help a friend with his and use his Whites and Olies but ours kids school sched and rain hasn"t worked out to get over there.

We're renting a 986 IH from a company just down the road about a 1/4 mile. We use it every so often, like when we want to fill a bag.



This is a few years ago when the clutch went out on the 1855. We put that on the bagger and ran the chopper with the 986 and kept on going. It was the 1st year we filled a bag, and we covered 30 acres of corn and 40 acres of hay in 3 days. We had everything lined up and ready to go. HAd to wait 2 days for the bagger because the farmer before us was having troubles and had it 2 extra days.

Even had to fix one of the gathering chains that broke (on a Saturday, after the dealers closed) We stole a different style chain from an old head we had from our other Fox chopper and finished the corn that way. I think I swapped between the hay and corn head 5 or 6 times that weekend too.

Donovan from Wisconsin
more pictures