Silage slab how big?

Nanukbear

Can anyone help me find out how big a slab I need for 36 acres of silage, 18 first and 18 second cut, asked my local teagasc advisor and he had no idea which kinda mad considering that's his job

Sam Kade

Nanukbear wrote: »

Can anyone help me find out how big a slab I need for 36 acres of silage, 18 first and 18 second cut, asked my local teagasc advisor and he had no idea which kinda mad considering that's his job

A teagasc adviser not able to calculate the size of a silage slab :mad:
Will the slab be out on it's own does is it have walls or earth banks?

GRASSorMUCK

Nanukbear wrote: »

Can anyone help me find out how big a slab I need for 36 acres of silage, 18 first and 18 second cut, asked my local teagasc advisor and he had no idea which kinda mad considering that's his job

Agri contractor/ pit man will see plenty of them over the season?

Sam Kade

Just a rough idea if you allowed for 384 tonnes of silage in an open slab without walls 40' wide x 80' length x 6' average height.

Nanukbear

Sam Kade wrote: »

A teagasc adviser not able to calculate the size of a silage slab :mad:
Will the slab be out on it's own does is it have walls or earth banks?

It will be on its own, I used to drive for a silage contractor and found it hard to seal pits with walls

Sam Kade

Nanukbear wrote: »

It will be on its own, I used to drive for a silage contractor and found it hard to seal pits with walls

Around the size I mentioned above so, better to have it too big than too small.

MfMan

Nanukbear wrote: »

Can anyone help me find out how big a slab I need for 36 acres of silage, 18 first and 18 second cut, asked my local teagasc advisor and he had no idea which kinda mad considering that's his job

Mine is (far as I can remember) 21m x 11m x 2m walls + rails on top. Cut 24 acres precision chop every year, holds it reasonably comfortably, depending on annual yield. You would need it bigger I'd imagine.

nhg

Probably no harm to check the sizes that the silage plastic is available in to make sure you can get a size to suit your pit

C0N0R

Length by breadth by height in meters divided by 1.4 equals the tonnage in the pit. So work back from what you expect your yield to be and what you want your height to be and you should be on the money. That height is when the pit is settled to.

Nanukbear

Thanks for all the info lads

Nekarsulm

80 by 30 for the actual silage area, plus at least 6 foot along the sides and one end, outside your effluent channels. Plus a big enough apron in front to allow trailers dump and the man on the rake to get around the dumped load.

Miname

Go narrower so you can keep a clean face. 90 x 25 would hold all grand. I've a 70x 30 that holds 35 acres but it would be piled too high imo.

Nanukbear

Miname wrote: »

Go narrower so you can keep a clean face. 90 x 25 would hold all grand. I've a 70x 30 that holds 35 acres but it would be piled too high imo.

Problem is I'm tied for space but understand about clean face for less opening and less waste, maybe I should go with 2 pits, first cut 13 acres second one 23 acres

epfff

Miname wrote: »

Go narrower so you can keep a clean face. 90 x 25 would hold all grand. I've a 70x 30 that holds 35 acres but it would be piled too high imo.

I would go for 100*35
25 very narrow for rolling need to be able to put shovel sideways to pack sides with fork
Be careful of contractors advice he will want to go wider to put stuff up quicker he will pack fine but you won't be able to use fast enough in winter

Consider raising the sides like a dinner plate rather than channels as channels get blocked with verylittle stray silage also have seen them snap off with award driver on shovel

just do it

Nanukbear wrote: »

Can anyone help me find out how big a slab I need for 36 acres of silage, 18 first and 18 second cut, asked my local teagasc advisor and he had no idea which kinda mad considering that's his job

Nanukbear wrote: »

Problem is I'm tied for space but understand about clean face for less opening and less waste, maybe I should go with 2 pits, first cut 13 acres second one 23 acres

Sounds like you've to decide on your silage strategy first and foremost. Surely you should be aiming for a larger 1st cut and smaller 2nd cut. Why not bales? Gives you greater flexibility

49801

Trick with sealing walled pits is to drap the walls with a sheet prior to filling. Great seal that way.

If building a pit in the morn it would be walled but open at both ends.
That allows you to take from either side and use up oldest silage first.
Also when putting the grass in the pit it should be buildt in a wedge shape with the fall of the sillage opposite to the fall of the concrete slab. That way with rain water falling on the plastic sheet goes straight to drains and not filling up your effluent collection with more rain water then nessiscary.

Also carefully consider your effluent channels so you can collect effluent and divert rain water when the pit is part full

Nanukbear

just do it wrote: »

Sounds like you've to decide on your silage strategy first and foremost. Surely you should be aiming for a larger 1st cut and smaller 2nd cut. Why not bales? Gives you greater flexibility

I operate a system of finishing heifers at grass in May June at 26 months, I start buying weanling's in August so am very highly stocked in May which means smaller first cut, it meets all factories requirements as cattle under age and average 650kg and allows me to close as much land as needed for second cut and buy weanling's as grass grows, will probably go with 120 by 35

just do it

Nanukbear wrote: »

I operate a system of finishing heifers at grass in May June at 26 months, I start buying weanling's in August so am very highly stocked in May which means smaller first cut, it meets all factories requirements as cattle under age and average 650kg and allows me to close as much land as needed for second cut and buy weanling's as grass grows, will probably go with 120 by 35

Fair deuce. You making a few bob out of it?