Hay/silage question

[schmism]

So i grew up seeing hay feilds bailed, square, round whatever.

Well theres a LARGE farm i drive by when headed out to the property. His "stageing area" is on both sides of the highway, he usually has at any given time 6-9 tractors (ranging from a large CUT to quad tire articulated 300hp monsters), a dozzen or so impiments and about 5 semi's within view of the road.

He seems to harvest his hay/feed/whatever with hay wagons? got this weird looking mini-combine thing...looks like a cross between a combine and a chipper with a long chute thingie comming out the top.

he SEEMS to "dump" the stuff he "harvests" in the wagons into one HUGE (im talking HUGE) pile, (think a foot ball field + in size ..mounded 30' high?...) a front end loader works one end and its darwafed by the pile.... he seems to use it to feed cattle... (id say hes got 500 or so head)

so can someone please explain whats going on?

oh ill see if i can dig up a google sat of the area.... id be obious if its got any decent res of this area....

Google Maps

the black rectangle to the east of 159 is the pile of which i speak.

my guess is "he" works all the land directly surrounding his "compound" all the way north to Rust rd. (relitivly speaking in IL its a HUGE chunk of ground if you ask me)

(the area inside the horseshoe driveway/road on the west side of 159... there is an old farm house that sits in the center at the very west edge. That entire infield area is kept mowed like lawn. any given day the equipment parked out front (on the yard) changes. it is this area were "he" must stage his various machines and attachments base on what they are doing that day/week.

 

[scott_vt]

Afternoon Schmism,
Sounds like he is making haylage to me. Same thing as silage except he is grinding up green hay instead of green corn. They do it over this way also. I imagine they only have so long to feed it to there livestock.

Just a guess !

 

[thcri]

Afternoon Schmism,
Sounds like he is making haylage to me. Same thing as silage except he is grinding up green hay instead of green corn. They do it over this way also. I imagine they only have so long to feed it to there livestock.

Just a guess !

That is interestting that you call it haylage. Not saying your wrong just never heard of it that way. Around here silage could mean corn or hay. If hay it is just called silage, if corn it is called corn silage. I guess it is like "do you want a soda"? Or "Would you like a pop"?


murph

 

[Soundguy]

Around here they use the haylage/silage terms.. if you say silagy.. you mean ferm. corn.. etc. My bet is it is a regional thing.

Soundguy

 

[schmism]

well that was one of my big questions was how long was such "feed" viable... i mean i do the same thing with my grass clippins and it turns into compost in about 2 months soooooo.....

 

[Soundguy]

Normally you bury it and keep 02 controlled. so it ferments..

Soundguy

 

[schmism]

well that would make sence given its covered in some sort of heavy duty tarp thingie with tires ontop.... (least i think thats the pile of stuff)

 

[randy41]

around here its common for corn to be cut and dumped into a wide ditch then compacted with a tractor driving over it and then covered with a large tarp held down by tires.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Haylage is treated as it is harvested to help preserve it. It will last till the next year when they start the new pile. Ideally you build the pile so you pull a foot off the face each day to reduce spoilage from the exposed section.If you look at his forage chopper (the small combine thingy) there should be a tank mounted to the right of the cab. This is the applicator tank for the preservative. The choppers can chop directly into dump trucks, tractor trailers with large dump trailers, side dump wagons, forage wagons or anything else you want to shoot haylage into. They are a lot of fun and have tons of power. 400-600 horses.Up here in WNY there are a lot of large dairy farms. I have not been by some of them in a couple years but last time I was the one farm was up to 3000 head. The next time you go by stop in and say hi. Most farmers are glad to show people around and answer some questions. If you catch them at the right time they may even let you run some of the tractors or at least ride along to see how the machines work.

 

[thcri]

around here its common for corn to be cut and dumped into a wide ditch then compacted with a tractor driving over it and then covered with a large tarp held down by tires.

I use to work for a farmer that got the waste from a local corn packing plant. He would resell it and ship to farmers. He had a big Stieger with big tires on it. These tires were about the size of duals on it corner. Big blade in the front of the Stieger. We would dump the silage and then stack it with the Steiger. The Steiger would also compact it. There never was a cover put on it and it would build it's own crust to protect itself. The following spring you could go out and dig in about two feet and the silage was still warm. It just retained it's heat all winter.


murph