Where to dump bad silage?

20silkcut

I reckon I am going to have a right heap of rotten silage this year?

What do lads normally do with it?

Bizzum

Dungstead?

mahoney_j

Yeadh dungstead and throw rotten straw from calf pens etc with it then spread it on a field you plan on reseeding or else stubble

20silkcut

I thought of the dung stead alright.Its just my dungstead is my slurry pit as well. No slats. Will have to forget about agitating or sucking out of it next year so.
You would want a fairly good muck spreader to spread rotten bales of silage I'd say?

bbam

20silkcut wrote: »

I thought of the dung stead alright.Its just my dungstead is my slurry pit as well. No slats. Will have to forget about agitating or sucking out of it next year so.
You would want a fairly good muck spreader to spread rotten bales of silage I'd say?

You need to get it broken up well with regular dung if you can as otherwise its very slow to break down..

Rovi

And keep the string/plastic/netting out of it!!!

20silkcut

bbam wrote: »

You need to get it broken up well with regular dung if you can as otherwise its very slow to break down..

I have approx 80 bales. I reckon at least 40 are pure ****e maybe the entire 80. I will be throwing fully intact round bales into the dung stead. Should I be shredding them through a diet feeder first. I don't have my own diet feeder. Would have to use a neighbours who will charge for his services.
It cost me 1100 to make these mother****ers of bales. 2011 silage cut in August of that year very stemmy grass cut and baled in 24 hours no wilting or shaking out or nothing and rain the day before. Very pissed off. Have 15 weanlings now. I will have to buy in silage/hay to keep them going. I wonder would 20 bales get them through till February. Will have early grass closed off since late sept by then.

Manoffeeling

Master oul stuff in a bog hole to keep the digger up.

funny man

no wonder we are over regulated with some ejits out there, dumping organic matter into a water source. I wouldn't go wasting diesel shredding them, you were far better building them in the dungstead and let them rot.

Skerries

outside Dail Eireann

adne

20silkcut wrote: »

I have approx 80 bales. I reckon at least 40 are pure ****e maybe the entire 80. I will be throwing fully intact round bales into the dung stead. Should I be shredding them through a diet feeder first. I don't have my own diet feeder. Would have to use a neighbours who will charge for his services.
It cost me 1100 to make these mother****ers of bales. 2011 silage cut in August of that year very stemmy grass cut and baled in 24 hours no wilting or shaking out or nothing and rain the day before. Very pissed off. Have 15 weanlings now. I will have to buy in silage/hay to keep them going. I wonder would 20 bales get them through till February. Will have early grass closed off since late sept by then.

id imagine 15 weanlings would eat at a minimum a bale a day so.doubt 20 bales will get u to feb

Manoffeeling

funny man wrote: »

no wonder we are over regulated with some ejits out there, dumping organic matter into a water source. I wouldn't go wasting diesel shredding them, you were far better building them in the dungstead and let them rot.

And what do you think a bog is made from?

Figerty

There is nothing in rotting silage to cause pollution as long as you dont put them in a watercourse! It's rotting grass, but it's slow to rot..

Try and get some dung or straw into it to get the bacteria going. Silage doesn't rot well. Best find a corner or hole that needs filling, remove the plastic and forget about them for a few years. I put the waste silage in with the dung.
I had 9 or 10 lads calling for dung for small gardens of spuds.

bbam

Dumping anything in bogs is prohibited. Burying bales is risky as it could make its way to the water table and contaminate it. We've left the 70's well behind us now.

Lest be sensible lads, it will need to go into a dungstead, breaking it up first will dramatically speed the process up.

I wonder would any of the compost companies take them away for free??

pakalasa

I'd dump them in the corner of a rough piece of land. They'll rot away in time. They're no different than timber rotting away. Just take off plastic and netting nad they should be fine.
Is it really that bad? I made bales in October once and they were fine. Did the plastic get holed or something?

1chippy

a lad beside me sold his rotting bales to some lad from tipp. he was mulching them up for some form of com post as far as i know. got a tenner a bale and rid of them.

bbam

1chippy wrote: »

a lad beside me sold his rotting bales to some lad from tipp. he was mulching them up for some form of com post as far as i know. got a tenner a bale and rid of them.

He got a good deal there.

epfff

wouldnt mind meeting that guy

20silkcut

I have opened ten bales so far. They only ate one. Some of them were holed by crows and handling etc but nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe I am being pessimistic but a 1 in 10 strike so far has me worried. As I said this silage was not shaken out or turned or nothing. It was cut, left about a day and then baled. Old pasture, stemmy August grass cut in damp conditions.

20silkcut

1chippy wrote: »

a lad beside me sold his rotting bales to some lad from tipp. he was mulching them up for some form of com post as far as i know. got a tenner a bale and rid of them.

Jaysus could ya find out who he is and put his number up here. I am in Tipp.

tabby aspreme

If your putting them in with the dung break them up first, I had a full one in last years dung and it blocked the beaters on the dung spreader took an hour to get it out, @ 100€ an hour, an expensive lesson. If you could break them up into a heap and shake it up after about six weeks they would rot quickly

1chippy

when i meet up with him. he works odd hours but usually meet him a couple of times a week, so when i see him i'll ask for the no.

jimmy G M

They might be any use to someone as bedding in a loose shed? Roll them out like a carpet, did this with rushes a few years ago, topped off with straw, worked fine.

bbam

jimmy G M wrote: »

They might be any use to someone as bedding in a loose shed? Roll them out like a carpet, did this with rushes a few years ago, topped off with straw, worked fine.

Handy way to get rush seed into the manure and maybe onto fields where theyve never been before..

jimmy G M

bbam wrote: »

Handy way to get rush seed into the manure and maybe onto fields where theyve never been before..

jez, is that where all those rushes have come from this year?:rolleyes:

FarmersSon

Really bad silage in the clamp this year - was cut down for hay but the weather never came to much so in the clamp it went. Cattle are really not fussed on it at all. Breaking my heart feeding it to them, only to end up shoveling and graping it up and dumping it into the ever expanding dungheap every few days.

Biggest waste of a day feeding cattle ****e silage.

whelan1

is it really that bad, could you put molasses or meal on it to get them to eat it?

bbam

whelan1 wrote: »

is it really that bad, could you put molasses or meal on it to get them to eat it?

Would it be as well get it tested first?
Encouraging them to eat poorly preserved silage could be bad for their health..

whelan1

bbam wrote: »

Would it be as well get it tested first?
Encouraging them to eat poorly preserved silage could be bad for their health..

yes it should be tested but we had crap looking silage here before and they ate it- actually surprised us when we did get it tested- just because its not the right colour doesnt mean its crap

funny man

Manoffeeling wrote: »

And what do you think a bog is made from?

There is nothing in rotting silage to cause pollution as long as you dont put them in a watercourse! It's rotting grass, but it's slow to rot..

Anything from a peatland to a marsh, bogs have a low PH 3, WHICH INCLUDE A LOW NUTRIENT LEVEL, so it's not the same organic matter as rotten silage that is high in N which in turn can cause a decrease in dissolved oxygen concentrations especially during decomposition, marsh bogs all run into the rivers and streams that surround us. Boglands are protected and rightly so, if mankind is so ignorant to their ecology then rules/directives (which go over the top) must be put in place to try and protect them.

Manoffeeling

funny man wrote: »

Anything from a peatland to a marsh, bogs have a low PH 3, WHICH INCLUDE A LOW NUTRIENT LEVEL, so it's not the same organic matter as rotten silage that is high in N which in turn can cause a decrease in dissolved oxygen concentrations especially during decomposition, marsh bogs all run into the rivers and streams that surround us. Boglands are protected and rightly so, if mankind is so ignorant to their ecology then rules/directives (which go over the top) must be put in place to try and protect them.

But,but they use bales of straw to filter water as it enters some water courses. And anyway, since cheese can be preserved in a bog for thousands of years, then why not silage? To be honest, I think the main reason bog water is so pollutant is because of the fine silt getting into fishes gills as opposed to the nitrogen levels.

Farmer Pudsey

20silkcut wrote: »

2011 silage cut in August of that year very stemmy grass cut and baled in 24 hours no wilting or shaking out or nothing and rain the day before. Very pissed off. Have 15 weanlings now. I will have to buy in silage/hay to keep them going. I wonder would 20 bales get them through till February. Will have early grass closed off since late sept by then.

Op sounds like it is very wet silage. get it tested. Break up a bale they may well eat the middle of the silage as only the outside may be rank. Get it tested the centre of the bales as well. If they eat the middle it will be a help however it will be a lot of work as half the bale will have to be dumped every day or so. If the part of the bale are good you may be able to use molasses with it.

Do not put ration/nuts on this type of silage makes it goo bad faster on the feed face. Even with a couple of kgs ration 15 weanlings 9300kfs) would need a bale ever 3-4 days and that would be that they all had access to the feed at the same time. They would just about be on subsistance diet no fancy weight gain. Molasses would be an option if you have access however be careful and test silage.

You should have a good idea yourself from the smell and colour of the silage. This wet silage is hard to preserve have some myself that I made in late september am feeding it at present cattle eating but not mad about it. But I know taht if it was left until next year it would not be great. Did yours get holes from crows in it was it stacked on end as opposed to on the flat my own opinion is that silage on the flat holds better.

pakalasa

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

....my own opinion is that silage on the flat holds better.

This is what I find too, better on the flat side.

towzer2010

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

Did yours get holes from crows in it was it stacked on end as opposed to on the flat my own opinion is that silage on the flat holds better.

Hi FP. I'm not sure which you mean. When you say on the flat do you mean option 1 or option 2. I always do it the second way but someone told me that its the wrong way. It always works alright for me though.

Option 1



Option 2

Farmer Pudsey

towzer2010 wrote: »

Hi FP. I'm not sure which you mean. When you say on the flat do you mean option 1 or option 2. I always do it the second way but someone told me that its the wrong way. It always works alright for me though.

Option 1



Option 2

Option 1 if you get ahole in option 2 water goes right down through bale especially dry bales. in option 1 the bale should seal itself. If staking 2-3 high on either option it is less of an issue.

pakalasa

I meant Option 2, as "Flat Side Down". I find the birds don't hole it as much. Bales are also less likely to split and sag.

How could option 1 be "Flat side down"? :rolleyes:

Figerty

pakalasa wrote: »

I meant Option 2, as "Flat Side Down". I find the birds don't hole it as much. Bales are also less likely to split and sag.

How could option 1 be "Flat side down"? :rolleyes:

Had them on end one year, God loads of fungal growth on the side of the bake. the bale sags and pushes out the seams.
Since storing them on the round there has been little or no fungus growth.
Not sure has anything else happened to stop the fungus growth but it's not an issue now.

funny man

Manoffeeling wrote: »

But,but they use bales of straw to filter water as it enters some water courses. And anyway, since cheese can be preserved in a bog for thousands of years, then why not silage? To be honest, I think the main reason bog water is so pollutant is because of the fine silt getting into fishes gills as opposed to the nitrogen levels.

Fish and other aquatic organisms need oxygen to live. As water moves past their gills or, microscopic bubbles of oxygen gas in the water, called dissolved oxygen (DO), are transferred from the water to their blood. Like any other gas diffusion process, the transfer is efficient only above certain concentrations. In other words, oxygen can be present in the water, but at too low a concentration to sustain aquatic life. Oxygen also is needed by virtually all algae and all macrophytes.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]To the degree that pollution contributes oxygen-demanding organic matter (like sewage, lawn clippings, soils from streambank and lakeshore erosion, and from agricultural runoff) or nutrients that stimulate growth of organic matter, pollution causes a decrease in average DO concentrations. If the organic matter is formed in the lake, for example by algal growth, at least some oxygen is produced during growth to offset the eventual loss of oxygen during decomposition. However, in lakes where a large portion of the organic matter is brought in from outside the lake, oxygen production and oxygen consumption are not balanced and low DO may become even more of a problem. [/FONT]

pakalasa

If you're worried about run-off, you could compost them, by turning over and over in a yard with a loader. :rolleyes:

funny man

Not worried at all, just couldn't believe someone suggesting burying silage bales in a bog!

Manoffeeling

Manoffeeling wrote: »

And what do you think a bog is made from?

?

funny man

Manoffeeling wrote: »

?

Anything from a peatland to a marsh, bogs have a low PH 3, WHICH INCLUDE A LOW NUTRIENT LEVEL, so it's not the same organic matter as rotten silage that is high in N which in turn can cause a decrease in dissolved oxygen concentrations especially during decomposition, marsh bogs all run into the rivers and streams that surround us. Boglands are protected and rightly so, if mankind is so ignorant to their ecology then rules/directives (which go over the top) must be put in place to try and protect them. Yesterday 14:24

Manoffeeling

I didn't know silage was so high in n! I sense major overreaction on your part by going to great rounds to prove your point. Relax. I see your from the midlands. Plenty of preserved bogs around there. Rock on bord na mona.

Farmer Pudsey

pakalasa wrote: »

I meant Option 2, as "Flat Side Down". I find the birds don't hole it as much. Bales are also less likely to split and sag.

How could option 1 be "Flat side down"? :rolleyes:

I did not use the flat side down I used the expression ''on the end or on the flat''. In option 1 if they are stacked 2-3 high and are less than 30%DM the part on the ground gets flat fast.

If you had hay outside which option would you use if it was not covered.:eek: