A24—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, iunt 9,1984
Baleage production
UNIVERSITY PARK - In the
last two years, farmers have
become more interested in using
round balers for making silage,
known as round bale silage or
baleage. This round bale silage is
particularly useful for small and
part-time farmers because it is
cheaper than many other silage
production practices, faster when
needed in small quantities, and
less dependent on the weather.
Although it is not a standard
management option, baled silage
can be a useful management tool.
Several scientists from Penn
State’s College of Agriculture have
been researching round bale
silage. The team is comprised of
animal scientists, an agronomist,
and agricultural engineers. Their
goal has been to define the role
round bale silage may play in
providing Pennsylvania farmers
with another forage handling and
feeding option.
Small farmers who do not have
conventional silage equipment or
the capital to invest in it can use
baled silage, says Sidney
Bosworth, Penn State Extension
agronomist. It can also be used by
farmers who have silage equip
ment, but whose silos are filled. In
these cases, it can be a means of
storing excess forage that needs to
be harvested.
The principles for making
conventional hay silage also apply
to making round bale silage. The
forage must be harvested at the
proper state of maturity because
this, more than any other factor,
influences the nutritive quality of
the forage. This applies to both
legumes such as alfalfa or red
clover, and grasses such as
timothy and orchardgrass.
For every day that alfalfa is left
uncut after the bud stage, total
digestible nutrients will decrease
by nearly a half percent a day,
Bosworth stresses.
In order to concentrate the
fermentable carbohydrates
necessary for good ensiling, the
hay crop should be wilted. Forage
ensiled too wet will not ferment
properly and will have high levels
of butyric acid and excessive dry
matter losses, resulting in poor
intake by livestock. Baling at 55
percent moisture gives the best
ensiling, according to research.
Another requirement for quality
silage is the presence of lactic
acidforming bacteria (lac
tobacillus). These bacteria grow
under an oxygen-free en
vironment. Compared to con
ventional chopped silage, round
bale silage makes it more difficult
to create this oxygen-free en
vironment. This may be the reason
Wild horse demo slated
LEWISBERRY - Wild horse
training and gentling demon
strations will be provided free of
Lewisberry next Saturday, June
16. The demonstrations will
coincide with the availability of a
new shipment of 25 mares with
foals ready for adoption, arriving
from the public rangelands of
Nevada.
Tom White, an experienced
horse trainer and farrier, will
begin training and gentling
demonstrations with wild horses at
the Adoption Center beginning at
10 a.m. White, originally from New
Mexico, has trained mustangs
since he was a boy. Members of the
Echoing Hoofbeats 4-H Horse Club
will also provide demonstrations
with several of their adopted wild
horses.
Frank and Doris Goodlander,
who operate the Center, said the
has its place
for some of the failures with round
bale silage.
A dense, tight bale is necessary
to reduce the oxygen level. Air in
the bale can be reduced by raking
single swaths into windrows.
Tighter bales can be produced
from smaller windrows and a baler
with a reduced ground speed. In
addition, the plastic bags should be
slipped over the bales and properly
sealed as soon as possible. If the
open end of the bag is tied as close
to the bale as possible, then
doubled back on itself and tied
again, you’ll have a good seal.
In feeding experiments with beef
brood cows, the researchers en
countered several problems with
round bale silage that were not
apparent in round bale hay. As an
example, silage bales must be
rolled tightly, making them dif
ficult to be self-fed. Feeding round
silage bales on concrete or other
flat surfaces does not usually allow
adequate, thorough consumption
of the forage.
Several different feeding
systems were tested, with the most
promising being a feed rack
consisting of pipes at a 30 degree
angle which hold the bale above
the ground within a three-sided
metal feeding gate, according to
Lowell L. Wilson, animal scientist.
“Using this system, the cows
have easier access to one end, both
sides and even the lower side of the
bale, increasing consumption. It is
also essential to remove the strings
around the silage bale since this
loosens up the bale and allows
greater consumption.”
William Kjelgaard, agricultural
engineer, says that “the 30 degree
inclined feeder helps shift bale
weight, relieving tightness so the
animals can sink their teeth into
loose silage.”
If the bale is very dense, and
twine wrap remains intact while
int Re feeder, forage intake can be
so low that it affects cattle per
formance.
For winter feeding, the scientists
did not encounter problems with
the outside of the bale freezing,
probably because of the acids and
heat generated by fermentation.
Round bale silage is used by
most producers as an emergency
storage method when silage
chopping and conventional storage
equipment and facilities are not
available, says Kjelgaard.
James Garthe, Extension
agricultural engineer, adds that
round bale silage is a good option
when bad weather interferes with
hay harvest.
“If you can’t dry it right and the
forecast looks gloomy, maybe it
can be bagged,” adds Garthe.
This can be a very effective
public is welcome to tour the
facility, and country food con
cessions will be available. In
vitations have also been extended
to the State’s 500 4-H Horse Clubs.
According to the Goodlanders,
“In addition to the newly arrived
horses, we currently have over 70
wild burros that are looking for
good homes.” The adoption fee tor
a wild burro at the Pennsylvania
Center is $l4O, and $215 for a wild
horse. This helps pay for
veterinary care, transportation,
round-up, and administrative
costs. No adoption fee or tran
sportation cost is charged for
unweaned offspring accompanying
their mare or jenny.
The Adoption Center is located
about half-way between York and
Harrisburg. For additional in
formation call the Goodlanders at
(717) 938-2560.
means of storing silages, but it
must be well managed. A mistake
at any point in the harvesting
storing-feeding process can result
in failure and lost feed.
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Feedmohile
(Continued from Page A 18)
mobile’s Lancaster County suc
cess.
With no tractors or trucks to
assist them, the Amish consider
mobile processing units to be a
valuable asset, and High estimates
that 60 percent of the processing
done by Modem Milling’s truck is
generated by Amish farms.
Although the firm’s founder can
recall a day when as many as 12
U.S. manufacturers built mobile
processing units, he now claims to
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State
be the only one left. Paradoxically,
with the industry as a whole on the
wane, Feedmobile, Inc., continued
to expand, with the company’s
latest venture being an office in
London to handle European sales.
The firm currently conducts
overseas business in England,
Ireland, Switzerland and Africa.
High says his company’s ability
to update equipment to meet the
needs of today’s agriculture is at
the root of Feedmobile’s success.
And with the introduction of his
Textureator, Sam High aims to
continue practicing what he
preaches.
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