Dl4—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 4,1984
for making round bale silage
NEW HOLLAND - Round bale
silage may have a place in your
forage program it’s not a cureall.
For most North American
producers, round bale silage will
probably be a secondary system to
gain more management flexibility,
says Dick Salisbury of Sperry New
Holland.' Generally, it’s less
complicated to make hay. But
round bale silage is useful when
your silos are already full and rain
threatens your windrows. It takes
more management.
The use of individual plastic
bags probably makes it easier to
put up a small amount of round
bale silage. The cost of good
quality sacks takes some of the pep
out of your planning if you’re
comparing systems, explains
Salisbury, who is product manager
for round balers at New Holland.
But the cost of the bags isn’t
critical if you’re only making a
small amount of the round bale
silage to try. It beats losing a crop
to rain.
In fact, good quality feed, very
low waste and moderate costs are
reported by farmers who are
already using their big round
balers to make hay silage. As a
bonus they harvest a day or two
sooner and beat the leaf loss you
normally get baling dry hay.
It's already on international
practice. Farmers in England,
Scotland, Holland, Belgium,
Germany and the Canadian
Prairies have been at it for years.
The results have been pleasing.
There are important precautions
to observe, no matter if you make
silage in individual sacks or in
stacks of bales. The critical item is
sealing our air. A small hole in the
bag will make the difference
between a bag of good feed or a bag
of rotten waste.
Salisbury suggests these
guidelines for success if you’re
thinking about making round bale
silage.
1. Start with good material. If
you put poor-quality rain-damaged
crop into a bag you won’t get good
feed. The results will be about
what you’d get out of a con
ventional silo if you put up poor
quality feed.
2. Wilt the crop to about 50%
moisture. That’s about half-dry. At
this moisture content, the fer
mentation is a little more
favorable in terms of sugar content
than wetter material.
3. If the crop gets much dryer
than 40% moisture, let it dry for
hay. Too-dry hay silage will
overheat in storage. This cuts
down protein digestibility. That
reduces feed value of the silage.
4. Have your equipment ready
before you start. You’ll want a
minimum of 60 HP on the baler
tractor because the bales are
heavier than they appear to be.
Make sure the hauling equipment
is ready right away when you start
baling. Haul the bales to storage
just as soon as they’re made. Be
sure the loader can handle the
heavy bales.
S. Make the bale from 40 to 48
inches in diameter. Try the loader
on the first bale before you make
the second bale to be sure it can
handle the wet bales. Loader tines
may need to be re-spaced. The
smaller bales will weigh as much
as a full-size bale of dry hay and
that’s all the baler is designed to
make. Full-size bales of wet crop
may be too heavy for your handler
equipment.
6. Haul the bales to storage right
away. Silage making with round
bales is more practical as a 2-man
operation, at least at the begin
ning. Any smooth, well-drained
level spot will do for storage. Pack
the bales together as closely as
possible and only about three bales
Guidelines given
Round bale silage can help solve some weather loss
problems by beating the rain and getting wilted crop into
plastic bags.
high. Land the bales square and
solidly. Safety in handling may be
a problem with higher stacks of
wet bales.
7. No matter if you use individual
sacks or groups of bales, put bales
into plastic the same day they are
baled Use black 6-mil poly if you
aren’t using sacks. Put up about
one to three weeks’ worth of feed
as a separate unit. Seal that group
of bales separately and start the
next unit against the previous unit.
That helps avoid spoilage during
the feeding period. If you keep the
bales to about 40 inches, you can
expect to cover about three dozen
bales with a 40’x40’ sheet of plastic.
That’s assuming you place three
rows and to end and five bales wide
on the bottom (15), four rows wide
on the second layer (12) and three
bales wide on the top tier (9). The
plastic should be wrinkle-free and
snug. Put a layer of sand all
around the edge to seal and hold
the plastic against the bales and
ground. Successful silage-making
requires successful sealing. The
pile will rot if the air gets in. That’s
the reason it’s a good idea to cover
the bales with a second layer of
strong, cross-laminated plastic,
sealed over the first. This protects
the inside plastic from damage.
8. If you use plastic sacks as
individual packages, you will
probably get best results with the
multi-ply bags that are white
outside and black inside. Single ply
sacks should probably be stored
under an additional group cover
for protection. Mice, playing
children and even crickets might
put holes in the sacks and lead to
spoilage. You have to be paying
continual, close attention to
keeping air sealed out. Individual
sacks should be double-tied with
plastic twine that won’t weather
and stretch to leak air through the
tie. With careful use, you may be
able to reuse the sacks several
times.
9. Place baler twine over the
Swine manual available
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - A
management reference manual on
“Producing Hogs Economically”
is now available from The Upjohn
Company. This publication is the
first in a series of management
manuals to be made available on
various aspects of profitable swine
production. The other manuals,
which will review swine scours,
respiratory diseases and arthritis,
will become available on a periodic
basis in 1984.
The economic reference manual
contains information for the swine
producer to use in evaluating the
strengths and weaknesses of his
operation. It also discusses how to
stacks in both directions to hold the
plastic in place and prevent the
wind from whipping it around. Use
sand bags or tires to weight the
ends of the twines. The tires or
sandbags should be about two feet
above the ground to keep the
plastic taut as the stack settles.
Re-tie them higher if they sag
down to the ground. If available, a
surplus camouflage net may be
easier to use than the baler twme
hold-downs. Check the plastic for
punctures from time to time, but
don’t peep under until you’re ready
to feed. Seal any holes with plastic
tape to stop air leaks.
10. You can start to feed about
three weeks after harvest. Take
the top plastic cover off one unit of
bales and store it for use next year.
Then open the lower plastic cover
just enough to take out one bale.
Leave the cover on the rest to keep
rain and snow out. Put the bale in a
round feeder or feeding fence to
reduce trampling damage.
There is less waste than you’d
expect because there’s a con
tinuously fresh feeding face ex
posed as the cattle eat away at the
silage bale. Experience indicates
very little mold problem.
Interest in round bale silage
seems to follow a pattern. Usually,
the forage is for beef, but it has
been used for dairy cattle. In most
cases it has been used where
farmers don’t grow corn for silage
and where they do not already own
a forage harvester. On these farms
the round bale silage is a weather
beating alternative to hay. And it is
easier to handle than silage put up
with a flail-type chopper (In the
past, flail choppers are the or
dinary hay silage makers in most
of Northern Europe).
Take it easy with round bale
silage at first, advises Salisbury. It
may be a valuable additional way
to handle forage on some farms.
And on others, it may not fit at all.
Trying it on a small scale is the
best way to find out.
determine where to make changes
to achieve more efficient and
profitable production.
Management checklists are in
cluded for the producer to use in
systematically evaluating his
operation. Local extension agents,
university specialists, agricultural
consultants, farm advisors and
veterinarians should find this
manual useful in assisting hog
producers.
A single copy of the report may
be obtained by writing: Swine
Economic Manual, The Upjohn
Company, P.O. Box 5087,
Kalamazoo, MI 49003.
See your nearest
HOLLAING
Dealer for Dependable
Equipment and Dependable
Service:
Alexandria, PA
Clapper Farm
Equipment
Star Route
814 669-4465
Annville, PA
BHM Farm
Equipment, Inc
RD 1
717 867 2211
Beavertown, PA
B4R Farm
Equipment, Inc
RD 1, Box 217 A
717 658 7024
Carlisle, PA
Paul Shovers, Inc
35 East Willow Street
717 243 2686
Chambersburg, PA
Clugston
Implement, Inc
RD 1
717 263-4103
Davidsburg, PA
ieN Gross, Inc
Geori
R D 2, Dover, PA
717-292 1673
Elizabethtown, PA
Messick Farm
Equipment, Inc
Rt 283 Rheem's Exit
717 367-1319
Everett. PA
C Paul Ford & Son
RD 1
814-652 2051
Gettysburg, PA
Vtnglmg Implements
RD 9
717 359 4848
Greencastle, PA
Meyers
Implement’s Inc
400 N Antrim Way
PO Box 97
717 597-2176
Halifax, PA
Sweigard Bros
R D 3. Box 13
717-896-3414
Hamburg, PA
Shartlesville
Farm Service
RD 1, Box 170
215-488-1025
Honey Brook, PA
Dependable Motor Co
East Mam Street
215-273-3131
215-273-3737
Grove. PA
Norman D Clark
&Son, Inc.
Honey Grove, PA
717-734-3682
Hughesvlile, PA
Farnsworth Farm
Supplies, Inc
103 Cemetery Street
Lancaster, PA
L H Brubaker, Inc
350 Strasburg Pike
717-397-5179
Lebanon, PA
Keller Bros
T ractor Co
RD 7, 80x405
717 949-6501
Lltltz, PA
Roy A Brubaker
700 Woodcrest Av
717 626 7766
Loysville, PA
Paul Shovers, Inc
Loysville, PA
717 789 3117
Lynnport. PA
KermitK Kistler, Inc
Lynnport, PA
215-298-2011
Martinsburg, PA
Forshey's, Inc
110 Forshey St
814 793-3791
Mill Hall. PA
Paul A Dotterer
RD 1
717-726 3471
New Holland. PA
ABC Groff, Inc
110 South Railroad
717 354 4191
New Park. PA
M&R Equipment Inc
PO Box 16
717 993 2511
Oley, PA
C J Wonsidler Bros
R D 2
215-987 6257
Pitman. PA
Marlin W Schreffler
Pitman, PA
717-648 1120
Pleasant Gap. PA
Brooks Ford Tractor
W College Ave
814-359 2751
luakertown, PA
C J Wonsidler Bros
RD 1
215 536 1935
Quan
Hie, PA
C E Wiley & Son, Inc
101 South Lime Street
717 786-2895
Ringtown, PA
Rmgtown Farm
Equipment
Ringtown, PA
717-889-3184
Silverdale, PA
I G Sales
Box 149
215-257-5135
Tamaqua, PA
Charles S Snyder, Inc
RD 3
717 386 5945
Troy. PA
The Warner Co
“For You The Farmer’
Troy, PA
717-297-2141
West Cheater. PA
M S Yearsley & Son
114-116 East
Market Street
215-696-2990
West Grove. PA
S G Lewis & Son, Inc
R D 2, Box 66
215-869-2214
ChurchviHe, MD
Walter G Coale, Inc
2849-53
ChurchviHe Rd
301-734-7722
Rising Sun. MD
Ag Ind
Equipment Co, Inc
1207 Telegraph Rd
301 398-6132
301-658-5568
215-869 3542
Washii
ton, NJ
Frank'Rymon & Sons
201-689-1464
Woodstown, NJ
Owen Supply Co
Broad Street &
East Avenue
609-769-0308