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

 

[art]

There is silage which is with corn, and haylage which is with hay. Bunk storage is the most economical way to store the feed and with the bunk style the farmers can cut it longer so the cows can chew it longer increasing the butter fat content in the milk.

 

[N80]

You can also make haylage with bale wrappers if you want it in smaller, portable packages. Hay wrappers can wrap a full sized round bale.

When I was in a rural area in Germany they did the haylage thing with plastic held down with tires. Stunk to high heaven. Not a nasty smell, but you couldn't get away from it.

 

[daTeacha]

It's pretty common around here for farmers to "chop" the hay, especially first cutting, and feed it directly to the cattle. Later on, it gets put into either bunker siloes or on ground plastic tube siloes about 10 or 12 feet in diameter. There is a special machine that stuffs the tube like making sausage except the machine moves and the tube just grows along the ground 'til they start another one. Much cheaper than vertical siloes and you don't need to worry about the silo unloader breaking down, someone working in the thing getting killed by silo gas, someone drowning in the silo, etc.

I do something similar when I mow the lawn and bag the clippings for the sheep to eat, but on a "slightly" smaller scale.

 

[AKfish]

Ahhh... the robust aroma. The crusty texture. The deep, dark brown liquid.

Must be silage.


Spent a couple of year's feeding steers in a feedlot for a local farmer near Benson, Minn. My uncle had a small (380 acres) edible bean farm (pintos, great white northern beans, red beans, etc.) and worked with this fellow who farmed several thousand arcres and finished out 500-1,000 head of cattle every year.

Used a large skid-steer to break out the silage and load feed wagons with. Great fun for a SD college kid.

AKfish

 

[BigMccorm]

The giant piles your talking about are actually bunker silos. They pile the silage on the ground and pack it really tight. Those monster tractors you saw more than likely have blades on the front and packing tires. As more silage is added to the pile the tractors push the pile up and even it out and pack it down at the same time. We don't use this method. We put ours in bags. Its a 9' diameter thick plastic bag that the silage is packed into. I have spent many many years loading those bags.

The difference between silage and grass clippings is that the silage is treated with a preservative that keeps it viable longer. Those grass clippings are also not packed very tightly....i would imagine. By packing the silage tight it doesn't allow for the circulation of air so it is more difficult for mold to form.

Besides doing this on our farm at home, we just talked about it in my Forage Crop class down at Ohio State.

 

[mjarrels]

Dairy farms around here put it into large vertical silos... nothing on the ground unless a bunker yield. Most farmers will be planting corn over the next couple weeks.

mark

 

[scott_vt]

Later on, it gets put into either bunker siloes or on ground plastic tube siloes about 10 or 12 feet in diameter. There is a special machine that stuffs the tube like making sausage except the machine moves and the tube just grows along the ground 'til they start another one.

Afternoon Rich,
I have seen those big sausage links not far from here !

When I was a kid I remember climbing up into the big vertical silos to pitch fork a bunch of silage down the chute. I remember how that fermentation would get you a bit high, and then how to get back down the chute clinging onto those wet slippery rungs ! Ahh memories !

 

[mjarrels]

Scotty,

BTDT... use to ride my bike over to a local dairy and feed cattle for 35 cents a day... of course 35 cents back than would go a long way. Bottle of pop was a about 8 cents and candy bars were a nickle.

mark

 

[scott_vt]

Scotty,

BTDT... use to ride my bike over to a local dairy and feed cattle for 35 cents a day... of course 35 cents back than would go a long way. Bottle of pop was a about 8 cents and candy bars were a nickle.

mark

Afternoon Mark,
Yep, we would ride our bikes down town to buy a cherry coke from the fountain, I think they were 15 cents but the old memory aint what it used to be !

 

[stevevdw]

There are a couple reasons farmers farmers chop the grass & make haylage instead of drying it for hay. First of all you can harvest your crop in a shorter amount of time when it's at peak protein. You are not as weather dependant for drying. Chopping hay is much faster & less labor intensive than making hay out of it all. Today's huge dairy herds need big amounts of forage, a big pile is the most economical way to store it. Some guys put preservatives on the stuff when they chop it, some don't. There is a small amount of spoilage on the top & sides but minimized by packing the stuff with a tractor. Most of the spoiled stuff is mixed & blended w/the rest of the feed & the animals don't seem to notice it. You can handle it with a FEL & eliminate hand labor involved with square bales when feeding. We used a bunk silo for years & could clean off 100 acres a day with much smaller equipment than the big guys use today. I'm sure a custom operator could do 100's of acres a day today.