reuseable silage bag

Tomjim · 28-11-2014 12:29am #1

Surely some one could come up with a reuseable silage bag. It would save a lot of money for faarmers. There must be a material other than plastic which could perserve the grass

Genghis Cant · 28-11-2014 1:09am

Tomjim wrote: »

Surely some one could come up with a reuseable silage bag. It would save a lot of money for faarmers. There must be a material other than plastic which could perserve the grass

I remember making silage in a milk bottle years ago. Great job too. Wouldn't feed many cattle though.
And there is a reuseable system available.

foxy farmer · 28-11-2014 1:31am

Back in the early days of silage bales they did have bags. Didn't see them myself but remember reading a leaflet or something about how to put them on and seal them. Some dose I'd say. All manual work. Getting the bag tight and excess air out would never be a complete success. The one reason I never went in for wrapped bales was the amount of waste. Made haylage a few years ago as weather wasn't suitable for hay. Lovely stuff for sure but the plastic was a scourge. Still finding bits of it around.
I try to mind the pit coverings as best I can. Some lads just cut strips off as they go back the pit. I had maize here for a few years but the plastic would suffer from the rats and birds. Hated pulling it back as the rats would be hiding in the tyres.
I see an article in the FJ today where a Mayo farmer has found his wrapped bales had been slashed. Bales are a write off as they were opened some time back. Some heap of waste there.

Nekarsulm · 28-11-2014 10:11am

Bags a serious pain.They were the bees knees at the time though. You would only put them on at the point you were storing the bale, no moving possible after. no tipping on their end.Took three people to do it. one on the tractor with the bale on a spike and took two to pull the bag on on. Then you had to get the rubber sealing ring rolled onto the open end of the bag. If you were stacking near the milking parlour you could run a pipe out and vacumn the excess air out. They would blow up like ballons three days later and you had to check the sealing rings and check for damage to the bag. one tiny hole and the entire bale would rot, unlike with wrap.

Tomjim · 28-11-2014 7:52pm

The bags the way they were were a disaster I agree

But there was a guy near Tullamore who was designing a new bag (not made from plastic) and he also had a way of tying the bag.

He won some prize for developing a new idea/ invention and he was due to put the bag into production but he disappeared. He was also working with Athlone AIT.

Some of my neighbours reckoned some of the plastic manufacturers bought the idea off him to keep him out of business.

Midlandsman80 · 30-11-2014 12:29am

Tomjim wrote: »

The bags the way they were were a disaster I agree

But there was a guy near Tullamore who was designing a new bag (not made from plastic) and he also had a way of tying the bag.

He won some prize for developing a new idea/ invention and he was due to put the bag into production but he disappeared. He was also working with Athlone AIT.

Some of my neighbours reckoned some of the plastic manufacturers bought the idea off him to keep him out of business.

Silo Sock it was called and he won the development prize on a RTE show for business ideas...

Tomjim · 30-11-2014 12:32am

and what happened after that

Tomjim · 04-12-2016 1:11am

anyone know what happened this invention - the silage sock

Surely there should be something reuseable each year, you could save on wrapping and plastic

blue5000 · 04-12-2016 4:05pm

I don't think it's going to be available anytime soon either, the whole silage wrap thing has turned into a little cottage industry.

1.We buy the wrap
2 Pay a levy, and Vat
3 Contractor bales and wraps
4 We pay Vat again.
5 We feed the bale, use a bit of diesel doing that (Vat again)
6 Then we pay to dispose of the wrap, driving to a collection point, burn a bit more diesel.
7 If we have any money left we can now buy re-cycled plastic in the form of stockboard, guess what, we get the chance to pay vat again.

Perhaps someone smarter than me could work out how much tax is collected on a bale, I reckon it could be €3-4.

Sam Kade · 04-12-2016 6:12pm

I've seen bales put in rows and covered with plastic. If you cut the plastic to go all round the bale and put the bale up on it have 5-6 bales in a row and pull the plastic tightly around the row of bales weighed down with sand bags. You wouldn't want the row bigger than the amount of bales you'll feed in two days. You'd want plenty cheap labour though.

lakill Farm · 05-12-2016 4:20pm

blue5000 wrote: »

I don't think it's going to be available anytime soon either, the whole silage wrap thing has turned into a little cottage industry.

1.We buy the wrap
2 Pay a levy, and Vat
3 Contractor bales and wraps
4 We pay Vat again.
5 We feed the bale, use a bit of diesel doing that (Vat again)
6 Then we pay to dispose of the wrap, driving to a collection point, burn a bit more diesel.
7 If we have any money left we can now buy re-cycled plastic in the form of stockboard, guess what, we get the chance to pay vat again.

Perhaps someone smarter than me could work out how much tax is collected on a bale, I reckon it could be €3-4.

depend how heavy the tractors are & road vehicles are on diesel its difficult to calculate the VAT on a bale.

MGO (Tractor diesel) - 13.5% VAT
Derv (Road diesel/White diesel) = 23% vat

Silage wrap is say €85 (€85/1.23/30) (Price/vat rate 23%/ no. bales per roll) 50c vat per bale

Contractor charge €2.00 per bale to wrap incl 13.5% vat = 27c
€5.00 to bale = 67.5c
€2.00 to Mow = 27c

1/2 ton of recycled plastic is €15 - cant remember if vat on this

if your buying stockboard back you can probably claim back the VAT on VAT58

Or other option is be vat registered

Who2 · 05-12-2016 9:47pm

we don't want reusable bags and anyone thats been unfortunate enough to have dealt with them will never want to see one again. think of the dirt on a normal bale wrap and now imagine if its been used a few times and its a cold wet miserable morning and your hoking in the dark and just how handy your stanley knife is.

J.O. Farmer · 05-12-2016 10:21pm

Who2 wrote: »

we don't want reusable bags and anyone thats been unfortunate enough to have dealt with them will never want to see one again. think of the dirt on a normal bale wrap and now imagine if its been used a few times and its a cold wet miserable morning and your hoking in the dark and just how handy your stanley knife is.

Think about how much opportunity you'd get to use the washroom on the way in the back door from another thread because you've gone out of your way to make the job even dirtier.

larthehar · 06-12-2016 1:44am

Anyone here every clamp square bales in a pit? 8x4 ones? Seems like an idea that might be plausible..

Mooooo · 06-12-2016 10:55am

larthehar wrote: »

Anyone here every clamp square bales in a pit? 8x4 ones? Seems like an idea that might be plausible..

Have seen on you tube a machine wrapping big squares stacked fairly big. In the US. Used to reuse pit covers here but easier and safer to just cut off as you go I find. On your own anyway

twin_beacon · 06-12-2016 11:00am

That machine will save a lot of plastic, however, you need lots of space as the bales cant be stacked.

Tomjim · 18-07-2019 11:51pm

just reactivating this thread - has there been any developments on the silage sock since or for that matter a recyeable bag

PoorFarmer · 19-07-2019 8:56am

Tomjim wrote:

just reactivating this thread - has there been any developments on the silage sock since or for that matter a recyeable bag

I think alot of the research at the moment is going more towards an edible wrap rather than a reusable one. It probably makes sense if it can be developed from bio oils and is safe for animals to eat.
I would imagine even a reusable option would eventually become unusable over time and so are still creating waste.

Mach Two · 19-07-2019 11:29am

larthehar wrote: »

Anyone here every clamp square bales in a pit? 8x4 ones? Seems like an idea that might be plausible..

Anybody here ever clamp round bales in a pit. Surely they would fall into each other therefore eliminating any need to wrap them.

wrangler · 19-07-2019 11:37am

Mach Two wrote: »

Anybody here ever clamp round bales in a pit. Surely they would fall into each other therefore eliminating any need to wrap them.

There'd be too many air pockets, why not just pit it if there's a pit available

PoorFarmer · 19-07-2019 12:00pm

Mach Two wrote:

Anybody here ever clamp round bales in a pit. Surely they would fall into each other therefore eliminating any need to wrap them.

Neighbour of mine clamped small squares in the pit back in the 70s. He only did it once though. They were torturous heavy in the winter

Mach Two · 19-07-2019 8:20pm

PoorFarmer wrote: »

Neighbour of mine clamped small squares in the pit back in the 70s. He only did it once though. They were torturous heavy in the winter

Did he not have a grab.

PoorFarmer · 19-07-2019 8:32pm

Mach Two wrote:

Did he not have a grab.

Not at all. Wouldnt be nearly enough work in having a grab

Water John · 19-07-2019 10:44pm

One of the bales in Drumshanbo this year was wrapped in a bio plastic polymer, called it EDIBALE. Researched by a 12 year old named Callum O'Rourke.
I presume it is all down to cost.

alps · 20-07-2019 9:48am

I've seen large square bales pitted successfully, or stacked into a pit and covered if you like. The dimensions of the pit and bales made a perfect tight fit..

Donald Trump · 20-07-2019 10:32am

alps wrote: »

I've seen large square bales pitted successfully, or stacked into a pit and covered if you like. The dimensions of the pit and bales made a perfect tight fit..

It was done here years ago with round bales. stacked them in a heap (in the field too I think) and covered with a silage pit cover. I'd say 25 years ago or more. Before wrappers were common. I wouldn't have been old enough to have any concept of how good the stuff was coming out of it, but all I can say is that once there was a wrapper in the place, there was no more heaps done like that.......

I also remember bales going into a pit and then being covered by loose grass later. I think that kept ok but the problem was that it was a hoor of a job getting the bales back out of the heap.......that might not be as big an issue these days due to bigger HP pulling them out.

People weren't as up to speed, or concerned with, optimum quality back then though ether. Wouldn't really have been talking or wondering about DM etc. :-)

Mach Two · 20-07-2019 11:03am

One would think that a square baler with roughly the same amount of grass as a round bale could be pitted and covered and added to as need be. Save a lot on plastic maybe. Easier to transport as well.But maybe not feasable.

reuseable silage bag

Comments