Machinery Photo/Discussion Thread II

There is another issue. Demand. The busiest period for silage is about the third week in May the second week in June. After that it slows down and never leaks again. Some summer dairy men will take second cut as bales. Therefore this gives more bargaining power to lads doing a large second cut that balances the strength of the large dairy man earlier in the year.

Most small and mid sized beef men have moved from pit to bale. You just have more control over quality. Traditionally these guys picked up the slack period from June on especially form mid June to start of the early second cut lads. But the contractors fleeced them and wanted to cut in the morning and be putting it in the pit by midday, it did not matter if the sun was splitting the rocks or it was snowing the contractor was putting it in the pit. Saw it many times in the FIL's place.

Now larger dairy men need to realise if they want put silage they will have to pay more for it. There is too many of them wanting it in a small window and that window shrinks depending on weather

If I was a contractor doing put silage I would be charging a 20-30/ acre premium for peak cutting season.

Never had a problem carrying bales over the winter. Quality might drop slightly but on the other hand I have seen a foot of waste at the front of pits. Another factor is even using a a shear grab unless you are getting a cross the face of a pit in a week you are losing quality

Everything about bales is handling and managing them. I was surprised by what lads said about the soft hand handlers however it makes sense. See up our way a good few lads have the elephant trunk ones but it's a hydraulic roller we use for stacking a bit slow but you get used to it.

For the smaller or mid sized operator bales beat put by a mile in both cost, quality, flexibility and management.

Go four high here and would love more reach to go another bale at least. Less bales exposed to crows and cats the better and any pinholes are sealed as they settle into each other. Take up less yard too.

What would you need clocks for. When you stack on the side the bales flatten. They will not roll. I cannot go any higher than three rows and even if I could get them stacked higher than that. You have to get them back down. It often not height that will catch you as much as reach as the fourth along with being high will be well back from bottom bale. Would. E a huge advantage from a preservation point of view.

For bord bia anyway it's two high unless u on concrete

Wasn't there some strange rule that if bales were on concrete they could only be 2 high but in a field or stone you could go higher for bord bia.

On the pit silage I'd say many like me who do all bales would consider a pit again if charges were based on yield and distance, plus a lot would be doing silage later on in june meaning contractor would end up with work between may first cuts and july/august 2nd cuts.

In fairness there's talks every spring about who's getting out, who's pulling back, who's selling up. Yet every year the work gets done.

Maybe the contracting landscape is changing. I always thought it would go that small lads are getting out, big lads getting bigger but that may not be the case.

I haven't cleaned out the troughs since I started feeding from the pit. Always waste from bales even tho coming from nice paddocks.

Second point cant understand The big M, it's only used for 3 weeks. At least with a tractor and butterfly, u have it for the other 50 weeks of the year. One of my contractors brings in an extra tractor from a farmer for long draws which is a good idea also. Loader is from a farmer/contractor too, seems to work well as loader man feeds alot of cows and cattle.

They probably look fine but you'd likely notice it in the tank fairly quickly if you were feeding them to cows

Very little run off if baled dry and well wilted.

Possibly the wrong thread but are second hand Navara's a no go area? Does the chassis go at the back of the cab on them all eventually or is at 08 one worth a punt?

Should they not all now have the bracing plate welded on behind the cab by now and whatever other remedial work was needed done?

http://www.spheattransfer.com/index.php/chassis-repairs-cleaning/

Thanks for all the replies, you've all said the same thing as I was thinking myself. Don't buy problems, second hand jeeps have just gone mad dear and the clutch is going on our Sorento. Looks like I will just have to get it fixed.