concreting yard for silage bales

westlander

Hello all,
was thinking of getting walls poured and a concrete base done for storing silage bales near the slatted shed in the yard.

Im sure there's plenty of ye that have gotten something like this done already so I said to myself this is the best place to ask

- what size walls would you get poured? ( you know the way there are different size pans, walls can vary in thickness)

- run off from the yard and the bales etc (although there wouldnt be much effluent, mostly rain run off from the rest of the sheds). Does this need to be piped into the slats somehow...if this needs to be done does it weaken the wall in the tanks? ( i read threads on here before about inspections and i think they can penalize you for not directing the run off to your tanks).

- if anyone has any dos and donts or any pointers it would be great....as its terrible if you have the job done and then realise you've left out something important..



Thanks for reading,
westlander

Farmer Pudsey

Not sure if I would bother with wall as spec would be quite high. There is supposed to be a farm grant scheme out next year so I be inclined to wait and put in a grant application for a standard silage slab. Done to department spec would be ideai for bales.

However you would have to direct runoff into tank and have a clean water diversion in place as well. this would entail a man hole with the runoff from slab coming into it and two outlets one into tank and one to a soakaway. 4" outlets and inlets would be adequate. It would not weaken wall of tank as all you would be doing is coring a 4.5" hole to get pipe through and sealing around same.

Biggest issue is how far from first bale to feed face. In my case it is about 16' and this just about allows you to feed bales and get bales out and manouver between stack and feedface. After two rows are gone it is quite comfortable to work there.

However after all that you really only need a gravel yard for silage bales and unless I was drawing grant for silage slab ( and I did) I be reluctant to pay for slab. Mine is lenghtways along shed with big effluent channel between slab and feeding area therefore higherst part is furthest away from feed barrier. There is a slope from Feedface to effluent channel. While 16' is tight at start of year when dealing with bales I would be reluctant to go any wider as after a few weeks there is no issue and you may need space at other side of slab down the line. Also I think in this set up walls would be a waste. Under no circumctances would i have enterained them especially as they cost a lot of money

westlander

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

Not sure if I would bother with wall as spec would be quite high. There is supposed to be a farm grant scheme out next year so I be inclined to wait and put in a grant application for a standard silage slab. Done to department spec would be ideai for bales.

However you would have to direct runoff into tank and have a clean water diversion in place as well. this would entail a man hole with the runoff from slab coming into it and two outlets one into tank and one to a soakaway. 4" outlets and inlets would be adequate. It would not weaken wall of tank as all you would be doing is coring a 4.5" hole to get pipe through and sealing around same.

Biggest issue is how far from first bale to feed face. In my case it is about 16' and this just about allows you to feed bales and get bales out and manouver between stack and feedface. After two rows are gone it is quite comfortable to work there.

However after all that you really only need a gravel yard for silage bales and unless I was drawing grant for silage slab ( and I did) I be reluctant to pay for slab. Mine is lenghtways along shed with big effluent channel between slab and feeding area therefore higherst part is furthest away from feed barrier. There is a slope from Feedface to effluent channel. While 16' is tight at start of year when dealing with bales I would be reluctant to go any wider as after a few weeks there is no issue and you may need space at other side of slab down the line. Also I think in this set up walls would be a waste. Under no circumctances would i have enterained them especially as they cost a lot of money

Thanks for that Pudsey I didnt know there was a grant coming on stream next year. The only reason I was interested in the wall was to shield the storage area of the bales from another shed I have that is parallel with where the bales are stored. (incase a bale fell or anything it would fall against the galvanize and ruin it. The other side of the wall then would act as a fence if you like to shield the bales from the field and cattle and it would be a fully enclosed yard area.But a fence I suppose would be an awful lot cheaper than a poured wall.
I currently do have a broken stone base for the bales and it does work fairly well.

just do it

westlander wrote: »

I currently do have a broken stone base for the bales and it does work fairly well.

So why waste money on what's not needed? If bales are stacked correctly (like a pyramid) there is absolutely no fear of them falling. With the money you'd spend on a walled silage slab you'd bore a water well or put in a roadway. Each of these will give you a return on your investment.

westlander

just do it wrote: »

So why waste money on what's not needed? If bales are stacked correctly (like a pyramid) there is absolutely no fear of them falling. With the money you'd spend on a walled silage slab you'd bore a water well or put in a roadway. Each of these will give you a return on your investment.

Thats true. A silage slab and a good fence would be just as good of an option.
On the plus side i got a rainwater harvesting system in this yr for the shed its nice to get some things done

just do it

westlander wrote: »

Thats true. A silage slab and a good fence would be just as good of an option.
On the plus side i got a rainwater harvesting system in this yr for the shed its nice to get some things done

For bales even the slab is an unnecessary expense! I've both and there's no difference in quality of bales.

Farrell

If you put in the slab, would you consider a pit one day.

Deepsouthwest

Do u not need a slab if u stack bales more than two high?

Greengrass1

Bales in silage pit here. Not ideal IMO the water sits between wall and bales thus yr and made over 100 bales wet

gazahayes

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Bales in silage pit here. Not ideal IMO the water sits between wall and bales thus yr and made over 100 bales wet

Worked in a place where they stacked the bales on tyres on concrete to allow the rainwater away.

westlander

Farrell wrote: »

If you put in the slab, would you consider a pit one day.

i'll be bales forever! Then again you never know what could happen down the line.

bogman_bass

I have some of my bales in an old silage out and to be honest I find that it's easy enough to tear the edges of them when tipping them on concrete

just do it

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

Do u not need a slab if u stack bales more than two high?

If more than two high you need to be able to catch the run-off. Never heard of anyone being caught for it though.

Nekarsulm

Those 8 foot high by 12 foot long security mesh panels that you see around building sites are great for fencing off bale stacks. Light to move and self supporting.Easy tied together with the old baler twine as well!

howdee

just do it wrote: »

If more than two high you need to be able to catch the run-off. Never heard of anyone being caught for it though.

Think that is only if your in reps no?

just do it

howdee wrote: »

Think that is only if your in reps no?

It was my REPS planner that told me alright. Having said that I'd say it's a general condition of good agricultural practice and therefore you could be caught on cross-compliance... (there is no hiding place:rolleyes:)