Fresh silage after splitting in pit

foxy farmer

Was drawing grass into a yard on monday. Grass was mown in in morning and picked up in the evening. Very heavy cut 30ft swarths. There was practically no drying in the few hours it was on the ground but got no rain. Pit had walls 6ft+. Approx 30ft x45ft slab. Final pit of silage was up to 5ft above this at highest point. Farmer landed in contractors yard yesterday to say that end of heap of silage had shifted out up to 5ft after they covered it on monday night. He had massive amount of effluent running out after a few hours. Contractor had seen it happen before but said it was pointless to shift the grass and refill the pit. No drainage pipe was put down which probably was the ultimate cause of the pit splitting. Anyone see this happening? How did the silage turn out considering you'd have a a void or soft spot in the pit? Remember seeing a lad a while back rolling out straw on a slab. Is it any good? Obviously the amount of effluent is the reason it shifts but are there other factors at play?

blackdog1

foxy farmer wrote: »

Was drawing grass into a yard on monday. Grass was mown in in morning and picked up in the evening. Very heavy cut 30ft swarths. There was practically no drying in the few hours it was on the ground but got no rain. Pit had walls 6ft+. Approx 30ft x45ft slab. Final pit of silage was up to 5ft above this at highest point. Farmer landed in contractors yard yesterday to say that end of heap of silage had shifted out up to 5ft after they covered it on monday night. He had massive amount of effluent running out after a few hours. Contractor had seen it happen before but said it was pointless to shift the grass and refill the pit. No drainage pipe was put down which probably was the ultimate cause of the pit splitting. Anyone see this happening? How did the silage turn out considering you'd have a a void or soft spot in the pit? Remember seeing a lad a while back rolling out straw on a slab. Is it any good? Obviously the amount of effluent is the reason it shifts but are there other factors at play?

Young grass or not enough time to wilt will do it. Depends on how dry it was when cut.

leg wax

only saw a pit this morn do the same thing but had to be recovered as plastic was ripped as well .

mayota

If grass was shaken out properly the pit wouldn't collapse. Big piles of grass dozed up pit in big balls. Yer man on front of comic has the right idea.

moy83

mayota wrote: »

If grass was shaken out properly the pit wouldn't collapse. Big piles of grass dozed up pit in big balls. Yer man on front of comic has the right idea.

I was thinking that might have an impact on it alright . Some pits are made in a matter of hours , you would wonder how well put together and packed they are

td5man

moy83 wrote: »

I was thinking that might have an impact on it alright . Some pits are made in a matter of hours , you would wonder how well put together and packed they are

Wouldn't happen with wagon silage. 😉

Miname

it split on me a couple of years ago. i had initially thought there was only one single split, but when i was taking out the silage i found a couple of splits in it. There wasnt that much waste on the splits but i cant say there was none.

Zr105

foxy farmer wrote: »

Was drawing grass into a yard on monday. Grass was mown in in morning and picked up in the evening. Very heavy cut 30ft swarths. There was practically no drying in the few hours it was on the ground but got no rain. Pit had walls 6ft+. Approx 30ft x45ft slab. Final pit of silage was up to 5ft above this at highest point. Farmer landed in contractors yard yesterday to say that end of heap of silage had shifted out up to 5ft after they covered it on monday night. He had massive amount of effluent running out after a few hours. Contractor had seen it happen before but said it was pointless to shift the grass and refill the pit. No drainage pipe was put down which probably was the ultimate cause of the pit splitting. Anyone see this happening? How did the silage turn out considering you'd have a a void or soft spot in the pit? Remember seeing a lad a while back rolling out straw on a slab. Is it any good? Obviously the amount of effluent is the reason it shifts but are there other factors at play?

Only time I've seen straw being put on pit floor was in 12 when i was pushing in maize with a contractor. By the time i had the pit shoved up the straw was that soaked that it had turned brown and gone to nothing. Going by that i cant see it being of any benefit to be honest.


As writing that i realised i saw it twice that year, the other time was under triticale whole crop but i was on trailer that day and wasnt paying much attention to the pit.

Was the pit pushed up in a steep wedge and the split is where 2 different fields/crops of grass met?

DMAXMAN

I have seen splits in pits several times over the years. generally its because of very wet silage and effluent no being able to get out quick enough along the floor due to the weight of the silage .straw layer on floor is a bit coarser and a small help but really needs pipes along both sides of pit if walled. I reckon that a big open pit would need a pipe crossways through pit to keep pressure from building

moy83

td5man wrote: »

Wouldn't happen with wagon silage. 😉

That's for sure ! I have to go patching the floor of the pit tomorrow evening where there are a few holes in the floor , maybe I should leave them just in case to take the extra juice this year .

Brown Podzol

Pit split here some years ago. Only noticed it when walking on it a week or two after ensiling. Lucky I had Nicosil netting on it as it held my weight, otherwise I would have fallen into the split through the plastic.