Intrigued - why is my local farmer doing this?

[Pebble101]

Today he was cutting one of his fields and putting the grass onto a pile and a tractor was then pushing it up and then driving over it presumable to compact it - it was a huge pile.

I couldn't work out why he would do this.

 

[starsailor]

Making silage?

 

[MyBoyChe]

Assuming the pile is in a farmyard I would say he is making silage

 

[Miss L Toe]

He is making silage, in the manner of the 1940's, the heap will ferment and produce lactic acid which preserves the grass, in order to stop the whole lot spoiling it will be covered with black plastic and tyres.
Most farmers are more sensible and wrap the stuff in round bales wrapped in plastic.

 

[FfionWinnie]

Silage. Where was the pile tho?

 

[hayinamanger]

The cut grass is going into a silage clamp, ooo arrr

 

[Orangehorse]

The grass is cut when it is young, hence before haymaking. It is chopped short to release all the sugars and juices, and then it is put into a silage pit and squashed down tight to exclude the air. If air gets in, the grass rots. When it is all squashed down, it is covered with plastic and then usually something on top to make sure it is secure - tyres, a heavy sheet, or muck. Then it is left to ferment. It is a sort of pickled grass and contains the nutrients of the young grass, to be fed and cattle in the winter. It is sweet and tastes nice. Too much rain dilutes the juices and so the grass may not be as well preserved, hence the rush to get it picked up out of the field as quickly as possible. It is quick, and not nearly so weather dependent as hay and needs a lot less work and labour.

My OH keeps telling me to feed my horses clamp silage, but everyone I ask says don't.
Horses don't have multiple stomachs like cattle.

Don't know anything about big bale silage, apart from that it is expensive to wrap every bale, compared to clamp silage, but it is useful in some circumstances.

 

[Hairy Old Cob]

Most farmers are more sensible and wrap the stuff in round bales wrapped in plastic.[/QUOTE]
Round bale silage may be better for some purposes but not all Beef and Dairy Cattle do better on precision chopped clamp silage as they can eat more of it whereupon sheep are better with bales which are easier to cart to outlying stock.

 

[Pebble101]

Aah your replies make sense as he has cattle. He does wrap bales as well, for some reason I thought of the hay in a stack rotting. Come to think of it I have seen a big mound covered in plasic and weighed down with tyres.

 

[AdorableAlice]

Most farmers are more sensible and wrap the stuff in round bales wrapped in plastic.

Not if they are feeding a milking herd or store beef. The silage is clamped, then put into a forager and sprayed into the yards.

 

[RunToEarth]

He is making silage, in the manner of the 1940's, the heap will ferment and produce lactic acid which preserves the grass, in order to stop the whole lot spoiling it will be covered with black plastic and tyres.
Most farmers are more sensible and wrap the stuff in round bales wrapped in plastic.

sorry, that is completely inaccurate, we feed over 500dairy cows and we would have to be insane/stupid/have a lot of spare time to be farting about baling 550acres of silage. Silage clamps if managed properly produce very good quality forage.

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

Also you don't get so much of an issue with crows pecking holes in bales and spoiling the contents if you put it in a clamp.

 

[smellsofhorse]

"The old fashioned way!!!"

Our yard owners did this up until a couple of years ago.
The only reason they don't now is they don't have any cows!

 

[Dry Rot]

Silage is not unique to grass.

Did you know the Eskimos used (?) to net geese at their flightless stage, commit mass execution, dig a hole, and bury them to make goose silage to keep them going through the winter?

I've also heard of herring being ensiled....

Not many people know that.

Lots more useless information where that came from! Hence my screen name.

 

[SuperH]

sorry, that is completely inaccurate, we feed over 500dairy cows and we would have to be insane/stupid/have a lot of spare time to be farting about baling 550acres of silage. Silage clamps if managed properly produce very good quality forage.

Not to mention very rich! Baling and wrapping costs a fortune compared to clamp silage. Plus the expense of getting rid of all the wrap afterwards when you have used the bales.