Silage, silage everywhere and not a place to put it.
Livestock producers are cutting grain crops this year to make up for
shortages of hay and other feeds.
Many would like to put it up as silage, but don’t have permanent
facilities such as a silo or feed bunker.
Duane McCartney of Agriculture Canada in Lacombe, Alta., says he has
had good success with inexpensive storage methods.
McCartney previously was pasture and beef specialist at the Agriculture
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Canada research centre in Melfort, Sask.
“At Melfort we basically had zero spoilage with any of the silos we
made,” he said.
One method is to simply heap the fresh cut crop in a row about 8.5
metres wide and two to 2.5 m high.
“The trick is to get it covered as soon as you can,” he said.
Silage spoils when exposed to oxygen. It’s important to build the pile
rapidly, pack it well and cover it as soon as possible.
Packing is important to save space. By driving a tractor along the
centre of the pile, up to three times more silage can be stored in the
same space.
For safety, the tractor should be equipped with a roll bar. Avoid the
sides of the pile because of the danger of tipping.
Ideally, piles should be out of the wind to save wear and tear on the
plastic.
If possible, prepare the bed with a layer of clay sloped at a grade of
0.3 m drop per 30 m to allow seepage to drain away.
McCartney would start to cover the pile after about a dozen loads have
been piled and packed.
Use silage-grade black plastic available at most lumber outlets. It
should be at least six mil. thick. Construction grade plastic is not as
good because its thickness isn’t consistent through the roll.
Drape the plastic over the pile. The edges should be rolled under so
water runs off rather than into the pile. Weigh down the edges with
sand or soil.
“After you put the plastic over it, respiration will occur for a few
hours after it is cut,” he said.
“The plants will use up all the available oxygen and will produce
carbon dioxide.”
It isn’t necessary to use a vacuum to remove the air, so long as the
plastic is kept tight.
To join sheets of plastic or fix holes, McCartney recommended Tyvak red
tape used in construction.
“We tried every possible kind of tape and that’s the one that works the
best.”
Each night, roll down the plastic to completely cover the pile and each
morning roll back only to where the job ended the night before.
Avoid using ropes or tires on top of the plastic. In Melfort, McCartney
found spoilage wherever there was a tire.
During winter feeding, pull back the plastic only as far as needed for
one day’s use.
“Some years we did have some frost on it and freezing around the edges.
But we set that stuff aside and it thawed and we fed it.”
The cover must be maintained and rips fixed with tape.
Chopped silage in a silo works best, but if a producer can’t get access
to a chopper, silage can be made from round bales.
“The big thing to remember is that you have to have the butt ends of
the bales as tight as you can get them.” he said.
Given the thin nature of many crops this year, it will be hard to keep
the material going into the bale chamber evenly.
Ideally, the swath width should be as wide as the bale chamber width.
If you have to weave back and forth to get material to the outside of
the bale, it will be fluffy and mould will develop.
McCartney recommended a lower bale weight to reduce wear on the
hydraulics and avoid stretching belts in the balers.
The crop can’t be too wet, he added. Aim for 55-65 percent moisture.
Bales that are being wrapped or put in tubes must be covered the same
day they are made.
Producers who don’t have access to wrappers or tubes can stack and
cover their bales.
Pile in pyramid fashion with four on the bottom, three on the next
level, then two and then one. Cover with plastic and weigh down the
edges with sand or dirt.
In this case, the air must be removed with a shop vacuum.
“We’d run it about 15 minutes to tighten down the plastic,” he said.
“We’d be able to store about 100 to 120 round bales in a pile on a 45
by 100 foot sheet of plastic.”
A tip is to put the plastic over and then circle the base with a rope
and cinch it tight before weighing down the edges, he added.
If carbon dioxide builds, use the vacuum to again suck out the air.
While the goal is to avoid mould, some might appear on the butt ends of
bales.
If it is white mould, McCarthy said it should be all right to feed it
if blended with clean feed. However, it
shouldn’t be fed if the mould is pink. It could be a fusarium that
produces vomitoxin.
