Silage thread

Dawggone

Cow Porter wrote: »

a google search brought up this

http://www.dancovershop.com/ie/product/tarpaulins/silo-net-silage-cover-10x12-m-170g.aspx

10x12 m for €260 .... add in gavel bags??

That is way too light at 170g.
Needs to be over 250g iirc.

Farmer Pudsey

Baler arrived at 7.30 yesterday evening. He finished baling at 10.30 152 bales off about 13.5 acres. 11.25 bales/acre. Lads had them in the yard a little after midnight using the massey and the ford. Massey was doubling them for he ford and then bringing in singles.

Did a few calculations for first cut, baler wrapper 7.5/bale, cutting 2.2/bale, plastic 2.8/bale, fertlizer 6.2/bale That is valuing slurry at 15 euro/1000 gallons), stacking 30c/bale. That is 19 euro/bale in the yard.

If average bale is 700 kgs at 30% DM there is 210 kgs of DM in each so it is costing 9.05cent/kg. First cut silage is one of the cheapest forms of winter feed if done fairy right no matter wheater it is bales or pit. If you cut it yourself you would drop another euro/bale off it bringing it to 8.5c/kg

smokey-fitz

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

Baler arrived at 7.30 yesterday evening. He finished baling at 10.30 152 bales off about 13.5 acres. 11.25 bales/acre. Lads had them in the yard a little after midnight using the massey and the ford. Massey was doubling them for he ford and then bringing in singles.

Did a few calculations for first cut, baler wrapper 7.5/bale, cutting 2.2/bale, plastic 2.8/bale, fertlizer 6.2/bale That is valuing slurry at 15 euro/1000 gallons), stacking 30c/bale. That is 19 euro/bale in the yard.

If average bale is 700 kgs at 30% DM there is 210 kgs of DM in each so it is costing 9.05cent/kg. First cut silage is one of the cheapest forms of winter feed if done fairy right no matter wheater it is bales or pit. If you cut it yourself you would drop another euro/bale off it bringing it to 8.5c/kg

How many layers of plastic per bale are you doing? And what brand of plastic? I double wrap (I think 24 or 32 turns?) volac brand im getting 25 bales per roll, tried the liffey mills brand and im only getting 20 bales per roll. €87 volac and liffey mills brand was €84 thought I was saving €30 on 10 rolls. But there is a 80c per bale difference. So I was saving €30 to loose €160 on 200 bales. I would of brought them back but I only learned this when the baler lad rocked up, he said it because he was using the same plastic.

Farmer Pudsey

smokey-fitz wrote: »

How many layers of plastic per bale are you doing? And what brand of plastic? I double wrap (I think 24 or 32 turns?) volac brand im getting 25 bales per roll, tried the liffey mills brand and im only getting 20 bales per roll. €87 volac and liffey mills brand was €84 thought I was saving €30 on 10 rolls. But there is a 80c per bale difference. So I was saving €30 to loose €160 on 200 bales. I would of brought them back but I only learned this when the baler lad rocked up, he said it because he was using the same plastic.

Using silawrap have not got a price for it yet as I get it through a brother however I have costed it at 85/roll for this. Usually get near enough 30 bales/roll that is suppoed to be is it 4 layers. However was looking at rolles earlier and over half is gone from each of the rolls, so I imagine that it is around 28 bales/rolls. Howevetr it would not substancially alter the cost/kgdm

dzer2

smokey-fitz wrote: »

How many layers of plastic per bale are you doing? And what brand of plastic? I double wrap (I think 24 or 32 turns?) volac brand im getting 25 bales per roll, tried the liffey mills brand and im only getting 20 bales per roll. €87 volac and liffey mills brand was €84 thought I was saving €30 on 10 rolls. But there is a 80c per bale difference. So I was saving €30 to loose €160 on 200 bales. I would of brought them back but I only learned this when the baler lad rocked up, he said it because he was using the same plastic.

The bales should be covered at 8 revs and then fully wrapped at 16 if using 750mm wrap. Early silage should have 20revs on the counter as the bales will be around longer.

Mad4simmental

I got sila wrap at €81 in centenary.
I'm not buying much so probably got at a better price than that if buying a nice bit.

Count Mondego

Dawggone wrote: »

That is way too light at 170g.
Needs to be over 250g iirc.

The silo net picture you showed there was 170?

Dawggone

Count Mondego wrote: »

The silo net picture you showed there was 170?

That's not for pit. That's just for protecting boudáns from birds.
Pit needs weight to it to conserve properly and to stop from flying off.

Muckit

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

11.25 bales/acre.

If you cut it yourself you would drop another euro/bale off it bringing it to 8.5c/kg

That's a decent return if not lodged or headed out.

Did you buy the mower this year ?

frazzledhome

Dawggone wrote: »

Pit covers.

Are they the same material as the beet covers that were around. I've 2 big ones here would do the trick

Farmer Pudsey

Muckit wrote: »

That's a decent return if not lodged or headed out.

Did you buy the mower this year ?

No not lodged but Hybrid was headed out about 6-7 days. Would have prefered to cut earlier. The Hybrid red clover did 12.5/acre, the Italian did about 12/acre and the ordinary ryegrass did 10. This was very leafy and bales were very heavy, Yes bought the disc mower but got contractor to cut with mower conditioner as weather was not forecast great and crop was very heavy.

Will use disc mower for 2nd and 3rd cuts when it is down to 6-8 bales/acre.

sean1141

dzer2 wrote:

The bales should be covered at 8 revs and then fully wrapped at 16 if using 750mm wrap. Early silage should have 20revs on the counter as the bales will be around longer.

Don't you mean 24? 20 will end up with more plastic on half the bale only

smokey-fitz

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

Using silawrap have not got a price for it yet as I get it through a brother however I have costed it at 85/roll for this. Usually get near enough 30 bales/roll that is suppoed to be is it 4 layers. However was looking at rolles earlier and over half is gone from each of the rolls, so I imagine that it is around 28 bales/rolls. Howevetr it would not substancially alter the cost/kgdm

No it wouldnt be a substantial cost per kgdm but it still adds up. If it cost me an extra €130 over say 200 bales that would be €650 for 1000 Silotite is the brand 750mmx0.025mmx1500m

Farmer Pudsey

smokey-fitz wrote: »

No it wouldnt be a substantial cost per kgdm but it still adds up. If it cost me an extra €130 over say 200 bales that would be €650 for 1000 Silotite is the brand 750mmx0.025mmx1500m

At 130 over 200 bales it is a 65c/bale. If average bale is 700kgs at 25% DM that is 175kgs DM/bale. 65c/bale divided by 175 kgs of DM is 0.0037c/kg of DM

dzer2

sean1141 wrote: »

Don't you mean 24? 20 will end up with more plastic on half the bale only

Can change the rate of rotation on the wrapper

Dawggone

frazzledhome wrote: »

Are they the same material as the beet covers that were around. I've 2 big ones here would do the trick

I honestly don't know Frazz because I never even saw a beet cover. Poor folk like me had to cover beet with straw!

Once it's over 250g/sq.m it will do the job perfectly.

Quick and easy to cover,and simple to open the pits.
Once over the initial shock of paying for them,I certainly wouldn't go back to fecking tyres. Dung was the job in fairness.

Robson99

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

No not lodged but Hybrid was headed out about 6-7 days. Would have prefered to cut earlier. The Hybrid red clover did 12.5/acre, the Italian did about 12/acre and the ordinary ryegrass did 10. This was very leafy and bales were very heavy, Yes bought the disc mower but got contractor to cut with mower conditioner as weather was not forecast great and crop was very heavy.

Will use disc mower for 2nd and 3rd cuts when it is down to 6-8 bales/acre.

Good return FP. Which have you a preference for Italian, Hybrid, or Ordinary Rye?

jfh

Anyone have any problems with circular holes through the plastic ?

sean1141

dzer2 wrote:

Can change the rate of rotation on the wrapper

What wrapper have you got

dzer2

Tanco 16 yr old set up for silage and haylage

Zr105

dzer2 wrote: »

Can change the rate of rotation on the wrapper

Can you change it mid cycle or are you changing it over the full wrap cycle? I'm guessing that's changing the over lap a fair bit, any issues with it getting loose/not sticking at that?

degetme

jfh wrote: »

Anyone have any problems with circular holes through the plastic ?

Ya was covering the pit yesterday evening and I see a circular hole in the new polythene. First time I've ever seen it

dzer2

Zr105 wrote: »

Can you change it mid cycle or are you changing it over the full wrap cycle? I'm guessing that's changing the over lap a fair bit, any issues with it getting loose/not sticking at that?

No I have to set it up for one or the other. Never had a problem with the plastic being loose or not sticking biggest problem is keeping the bale on the table for the extra turns.

jfh

degetme wrote: »

Ya was covering the pit yesterday evening and I see a circular hole in the new polythene. First time I've ever seen it

About 5 circular holes in each cover. You know what type of plastic it was?

degetme

jfh wrote: »

About 5 circular holes in each cover. You know what type of plastic it was?

We just had the one hole. Around a foot in circumference. I'd have to see the packaging. Always used this stuff with years and never a problem

Reggie.

degetme wrote: »

We just had the one hole. Around a foot in circumference. I'd have to see the packaging. Always used this stuff with years and never a problem

That's a big hole

sean1141

dzer2 wrote: »

No I have to set it up for one or the other. Never had a problem with the plastic being loose or not sticking biggest problem is keeping the bale on the table for the extra turns.

I wrapped bales for a guy last year.. 32 standard rounds. Good few around here do 24 rounds

dzer2

sean1141 wrote: »

I wrapped bales for a guy last year.. 32 standard rounds. Good few around here do 24 rounds

What size plastic

sean1141

dzer2 wrote:

What size plastic

I don't know the size off hand but it was just the normal size that everyone uses for 16 rounds.
15-16 bales to a roll

dzer2

I get 32 bales to the roll here and the bales are good