My silage is sprouting

sea12

Just noticed today that one crop of my silage is sprouting fungus growth. Never had it before. Silage only had a 24 hr wilt abs was old meadow but still should it not have preserved.
Would it be the plastic?

Birdnuts

Its happened to me before when dirty wet silage went into the bale - given the summer in the West I wouldn't be surprised if its a bigger problem for many this year:(

Floki

It looks to be all covered in this article.

https://www.fginsight.com/vip/vip/the-seven-deadly-sins-of-silage-making180311-961

From the importance of wilting to ensuring no damage to the plastic seal and the importance of having no dead grass in the sward for silage.

theaceofspies

Floki wrote: »

It looks to be all covered in this article.

https://www.fginsight.com/vip/vip/the-seven-deadly-sins-of-silage-making180311-961

From the importance of wilting to ensuring no damage to the plastic seal and the importance of having no dead grass in the sward for silage.

From experience it is a combo of not enough wrapping and over wilting. An extra 1/2 wrap makes a huge difference

sea12

theaceofspies wrote: »

From experience it is a combo of not enough wrapping and over wilting. An extra 1/2 wrap makes a huge difference

This was meant for sheep. I presume this isn't going to be suitable now?

yosemitesam1

theaceofspies wrote: »

From experience it is a combo of not enough wrapping and over wilting. An extra 1/2 wrap makes a huge difference

Ye overwilting is a big cause, can end up to dry for lactic acid bacteria to do their job while mould isn't as affected by dryness

orm0nd

over wilting is only a problem if air gets in,

using very dry bales here atm that were made in early june 2016 and they're A1

from op pic is there some docks thisltes or other stems piercing the plastic from inside

also appears to be very little or poor quality plastic
applying plastic is like mixing concrete .. it the last bit that makes the difference

Floki

theaceofspies wrote: »

From experience it is a combo of not enough wrapping and over wilting. An extra 1/2 wrap makes a huge difference

Very hard to overwilt in this country though if it is a thing.

From experience here you can wrap hay and have no mould as long as you put the extra layer on and with the fusion 3+ now the barrelwrap is even better.

I will accept a bit of moisture is a help to get the bacteria going and use up any oxygen but as you say the extra bit of plastic means a lot. I've wrapped hay and no matter how dry it is here you'll still have a little bit of moisture on the round under the plastic when opening. Same as wrapping straw.

sea12

orm0nd wrote: »

over wilting is only a problem if air gets in,

using very dry bales here atm that were made in early june 2016 and they're A1

from op pic is there some docks thisltes or other stems piercing the plastic from inside

also appears to be very little or poor quality plastic
applying plastic is like mixing concrete .. it the last bit that makes the difference

No there is no thistles or docks in the field. 30 bales per roll. Can't remover make but think it was volac. Bought in local Glanbia branch.
Wasn't too dry but don't think it got enough wilt.

kay 9

Have the same thing here on a few I baled that was too strong to graze in August.
They're the finest when opened.

amacca

If its any consolation to you OP I had a couple of hundred with fungus sprout out of them where birds landed on top one year

Didn't get rid of fungus, let it grow and seal holes (they were tiny hols mind) and then ripped off plastic disposed of any external lumps of fungus and fed away during the winter with minimum waste in the bales (almost no waste)....admittedly with some worry.

Cattle thrived away as normal, even seemed to like the small bits of fungus I couldn't separate from the bales.....know nothing about what effect it might have on sheep however.

Never wrestle with pigs

sea12 wrote: »

No there is no thistles or docks in the field. 30 bales per roll. Can't remover make but think it was volac. Bought in local Glanbia branch.
Wasn't too dry but don't think it got enough wilt.

I made silage last year very dry and put the normal amount of wrapping on them. I got the same as you. I opened the plastic off the day before feeding them out to kill off the fungus.

This year I made haylage but put an extra layer on them. I think 20 bales to a roll. It's mighty stuff with no waste and smells lovely, an alcohol small off it.

Bleating Lamb

Had this on bales last year,Bales got normal wilt and were made on a roasting hot day....I put it down to an extent to the temp day bales weee made and that it may have affected the plastic going on as all bales got an extra wrap.
Cut off the fungus and sealed the small holes with black tape,bales were fine when opened them feed.

Aravo

2yrs ago I was to make hay, needed one more day. Rain promised the next day, so wrapped it with extra wrap. Still have some of them. Used a few this week, mighty stuff. Am going to keep the rest for spring. Extra wrap can make all the difference.

farawaygrass

Often had them here, and once opened there is very little spoilage. I think you are better off not cutting them off now as the fungus seals up the bale

sea12

farawaygrass wrote: »

Often had them here, and once opened there is very little spoilage. I think you are better off not cutting them off now as the fungus seals up the bale

Ok sound. Wiuld it make them unattractive for sale? Have enough haylage made aswell that i was going to sell to the horsey crowd but could use that for the sheep and sell this silage instead?

patsy_mccabe

Can't open the picture but - I have a neighbour that switched contractor this year because he was cheaper. Every one of his bales are covered in sprouting mold. He asked me to look at them and to me, it looked like poor plastic. He thought it might be the way they were handled, but every side of the bale was covered in them.

Mr321

sea12 wrote: »

Ok sound. Wiuld it make them unattractive for sale? Have enough haylage made aswell that i was going to sell to the horsey crowd but could use that for the sheep and sell this silage instead?

It'll be better then a snowball when there comes a shortage of fodder so should be OK. I don't think its to do with wilt much. I hsvnt seen that here in years and it was a piss poor baler and wrapper done it that year so I'm guessing wasn't packed tight enough or wrapped enough

farawaygrass

sea12 wrote: »

Ok sound. Wiuld it make them unattractive for sale? Have enough haylage made aswell that i was going to sell to the horsey crowd but could use that for the sheep and sell this silage instead?

To be fair you wouldn’t be best pleased buying it but depends who’s buying really. You could show the person s few open bales maybe.

KatyMac

Opened a bale today - it looked perfect from the outside but one part of it had maggots in it. Never seen anything like it before. Would it be something like a small creature got caught up by the baler? The wrap was fine and 90% of the bale was grand. I feed in a garden, so took it and dumped it maggoty side down in the corner. Couple of hours later there were 3 heifers lying on top of it!

Never wrestle with pigs

Ya say it's a dead animal. Seen it a few times with dead rabbits and crows.