Silage vs haylage.

[nwhittemore]

ok I live in Alabama so we have very hot humid summers, In my experience anytime we bale hay with any moisture content more than powder dry the bales go through a heat and can/will catch fire and mold becomes an issue. How do silage bakers differ from standard balers to stop this? Our fields are a mix of Coastal Bermuda, bahaia and tall fescue is the issue what we are trying to bale or am I just missing something.

 

[LouNY]

Damp bales will mold and heat.
Silage bales are baled at a high almost wet moisture and usually net wrapped, then brought to where they will be stored and wrapped in several layers of plastic.
The plastic wrap seals the moisture in the bale and air out of this will allow the bale to "cook" which will breakdown much of the cellulose and sugars into digestible nutrients.
The moisture content can be as low as 25% and still ensilage or up to almost 70% we normally shoot for 30-40%.
I thought I had some photos of our wrapper but I didn't see them.
I'm sure there are several on youtube.

 

[nwhittemore]

ok so you seal the moisture In and let them cook but does this not cause issues with fire? I have watched dozens of bales spontaneously combust sitting in the field just being twine wrapped. I would hate to burn down the barn.

 

[nwhittemore]

I know it's done so I don't doubt it can be done I'm just concerned that I won't get something right. We just bought our first silage baler. Vermeer 604 super j silage our old baler was a standard 604 super j... the only difference in the balers is the roll starter. the Standard is a square tube and the silage is a round tube with 1/2 inch square stock twisted around it like a candy cane and a smaller gear on the main gearbox and one size larger on the main drive slowing it down and increasing torque. I have gathered we need a wrapper to successfully bale silage is there anything else I need to know or have on hand to make this work?

 

[LouNY]

I don't know what your intent is, if it's to do hay silage bales to feed out to your cows or to sell.
I would say get with your county extension service to get information on balage.
If you are trying to get quality feed it requires quality forage to start with, mowed at the proper time , baled at the proper moisture, then promptly wrapped to cook up as silage.
Once a bar is wrapped it needs to be handled with a squeeze grapple, carefully handled and stacked as if the plastic wrap is perforated the feed will rot.
Once they ensilage they will be soft and hard to handle.
Once opened up they need to be feed out fairly quickly as it will spoil.
Individual wrapping is between $3-$5 per bale just for plastic. The long sleeve wrapping requires a high volume of feed to be fed daily as the air will travel several feet upthe sleeve.

 

[zzvyb6]

My experience is that bales heat because they get an oxygen supply. That's why you pack them as tight as possible in the mow or wrap them to keep out the air/oxygen). I believe 'silage' (as in silo stored) uses anaerobic bacteria to perform the fermentation. That's why you NEVER enter a silo alone without someone outside guarding you. There's no oxygen in there and you suffocate quickly. BTW We've had an instance a while back where a Dad entered a silo, got stuck, son tried to help and went in to help. They both died. Haylage is usually chopped (grass & alfalfa) hay, while 'silage' is chopped corn (stalks and ears). Both are blown up into a silo with a tractor powered silo blower from a self feeding 'chopper box' wagon. A fascinating process that involves a lot of danger.

 

[Farmer495]

Those doing round bale silage around here will often mow with a discbine etc and leave the crop in the windrow that came out of the discbine, then directly bale that windrow with a silage special baler a few hours later depending on the heat. Bales get wrapped same day with plastic. I've never seen wrapped silage bales catch fire Haylage is round bale silage just a little dryer, you can get away with using a regular round baler for it and still wrap. I can't remember the moisture % differences, been a while.

 

[Turbys_1700]

Those doing round bale silage around here will often mow with a discbine etc and leave the crop in the windrow that came out of the discbine, then directly bale that windrow with a silage special baler a few hours later depending on the heat. Bales get wrapped same day with plastic. I've never seen wrapped silage bales catch fire Haylage is round bale silage just a little dryer, you can get away with using a regular round baler for it and still wrap. I can't remember the moisture % differences, been a while.

Spot on...

 

[Kiwibru]

Yes, right on. We use a drum mower, then bale right after the cut so as to retain the moisture. We like around 45-50%. Then you have to get back to those bales before 24 hr. have passed to catch them before heating up and ruining the balance in the bale. You want to exclude oxygen and the fermentation comes on after 48 hours as the aerobic bacteria run out of oxygen and the anaerobic bactieria take over. YOu want at least six layers of plastic or a minimum of 32 rotations with a bale wrapper. Full fermentation takes at least six weeks.
Processing as haylage also allows you to start earlier in the growing season so you get higher protein levels in the leaf. Once boot begins you are loosing that protein. The analogy I use is that it is like making small batches of beer or wine. You constrain is the amount of acreage you can get done within the parameters of the cutting, baling and wrapping time line. Anytime you work outside that schedule you are compromising science based data that gives you the edge for quality forage.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Silage is made from corn, haylage is made from hay...

SR