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square bale silage

  • 25-07-2010 8:34pm
    #1
    Muckit
    Registered Users Posts: 11,174 ✭✭✭✭


    Anyone here have any experience of it? I doubt it is very popular here in ireland. why i wonder? I suppose a square baler is alot more expensive than round.

    But wouldn't square silage bales be very handy??

    Easier to transport (esp on trailer)
    You'd fit/stack in the same space silage slab/hardcore
    and I'd say they'd be easier to feed out

    So what's the story?? :rolleyes:


Comments

  • #2
    hammer73
    Registered Users Posts: 276 ✭✭hammer73


    not sure about the cost of bailing but i do know that there is a lot more plastic used per volume of silage than on a round bale. Must be a factor.

    Also the weight, an 8x4x4 must be a fair weight and would every loader lift it?


  • #3
    Muckit
    Registered Users Posts: 11,174 ✭✭✭✭Muckit


    ya you prob right, heard that before about using alot more wrap.

    On the handling point, I've seen alot of the smaller square baled silage (must be 6X3X3??) on you tube been handled by tractor loaders.

    Seen rounds being wrapped too end to end (like a tube) so only round needs to be wrapped and the ends. Seems answer for reducing wrap, but then you can't stack them :rolleyes:


  • #4
    st1979
    Registered Users Posts: 936 ✭✭✭st1979


    contractor around here makes squares in wrap they are 6'6 long and 70cm x 80cm which weighs the same as a round bale. Only problem i am told is they take a bit more wrap but are very handy i am told


  • #5
    reilig
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,401 ✭✭✭reilig


    Muckit wrote: »
    .


    Seen rounds being wrapped too end to end (like a tube) so only round needs to be wrapped and the ends. Seems answer for reducing wrap, but then you can't stack them :rolleyes:

    I've seen that on youtube too and it looks pretty neat. it would save a lot of wrap. one guy who posted a video said that they didn't bother wrapping the end of the first and last bale and that onlt half of it would be stale so they would accept the loss. They are a remote control wrapper and all you have to do it load the bale onto it. Powered by a powerpack. Looks pretty cool. Haven't seen any of them in this country yet though.


  • #6
    bbam
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,410 ✭✭✭bbam


    reilig wrote: »
    I've seen that on youtube too and it looks pretty neat. it would save a lot of wrap. one guy who posted a video said that they didn't bother wrapping the end of the first and last bale and that onlt half of it would be stale so they would accept the loss. They are a remote control wrapper and all you have to do it load the bale onto it. Powered by a powerpack. Looks pretty cool. Haven't seen any of them in this country yet though.

    Was in france a few weeks ago and saw these being done.. They could wrap rounds and squares in the same tube !!
    The material was very dry being wrapped so I guss less rot or bad bales, my fear for us would be a bad bale could spread further and waste more silage..

    I was watching one guy milking about 30 cows in a byre, the cows had a paddock of about an acre of bare ground... Hay and concentrates of some kind all the time !


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  • #7
    babybrian
    Registered Users Posts: 215 ✭✭babybrian


    I was in australia and seem them ensiling large squares just like a conventional silage pit here, seemed to work just fine and handling the bales was easy when the pit was opened. All you do is when you pull back the cover cut the twines and take the silage out in flakes with the loader, very handy.


  • #8
    pakalasa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,552 ✭✭✭pakalasa


    Round bales wrapped in a long tube, here it is

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FNblWEYS9k

    Can't exactly move it after wrapping, can you?


    Here's one for the big square bales.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=XcXTiLPrTlc&feature=related

    .


  • #9
    Muckit
    Registered Users Posts: 11,174 ✭✭✭✭Muckit


    babybrian, that's gas, never seen that done but as a young lad growing up making small square bales of hay at home i always wondered about whether it'd be possible to try making a clamp of silage using small square bales (obviously with grass baled green):rolleyes:


  • #10
    reilig
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,401 ✭✭✭reilig


    Muckit wrote: »
    babybrian, that's gas, never seen that done but as a young lad growing up making small square bales of hay at home i always wondered about whether it'd be possible to try making a clamp of silage using small square bales (obviously with grass baled green):rolleyes:

    Only problem with the small square bales for silage would be that they would be hard handled - one man would not lift one, twine might have to be stronger as the extra weight and pressure may cause them to give way too. :rolleyes:


  • #11
    vincenzolorenzo
    Registered Users Posts: 1,228 ✭✭✭vincenzolorenzo


    Hmmm, not too sure how well stacking square bales in a silage would work. Very hard, if not impossible to have no air gaps in the middle, plus the labour requirements would be unreal! Bad enough pitching hay, never mind highly packed bales of green grass!! I've seen thos tubeline videos before but the main drawback as far as I can see is space. Anyone we go wrapping for want as compact a stack of bales as possible. Having a big long line of bales out in a field might not be the most practical option


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  • #12
    babybrian
    Registered Users Posts: 215 ✭✭babybrian


    Oh dont worry it was large square bales and driven hard into the clamp with a tractor to leave little or no air and then covered with tyres.

    As for the tubelines I agree with vincenzolorenzo in that you would need lots of space, this worked well in Australia because they feed silage from Dec/Jan until May/June but because of drought so they have rock hard fields and dont be ploughing like we would here in Ireland..


  • #13
    reilig
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,401 ✭✭✭reilig


    We used to put round bales into the pit. They were from fields that weren't accessable by the harvester - across a narrow bridge. We'd pull the twine off them as we'd put them in and put grass on top and roll the whole lot well in. Turned out great stuff.


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