Wraps vs silage pit

curious guy

A lot of farmers are switching to all wraps instead of pits. What do people think? Do the sums add up and is there more or less hardhship? and other pros and cons?

vincenzolorenzo

It depends on individual circumstances really but the difference between getting your silage wrapped or getting a pit made really can be very little. I work part time for a bale wrapping contractor and a coouple of years ago a neighbour moved away from pit silage and wrapped it all.
Basicaly he cuts 19 acres so at €100 an acre for the pit that works out at €1900. We mowed, baled, wrapped and stacked 168 bales for him off the same ground and the bill came in at €1800.

It can depend on how heavy the crop is too. Pit silage will work out cheaper if you have really heavy first cut silage, bales are cheaper for lighter crops as you're paying by the bale rather than the acre. i think most people would agree too that bales and handier, less time consuming and less waste as well. If i was farming and looking to get silage made i'd be going for wraps unless I had some gear of my own for making a pit

Claasman

There are so many different variables, its different for every farmer. We switched to bales from pit because, we get better quality silage, no waste, more control over when its cut/how long we leave it wilt for, dont do as much damage to the land in wet conditions, easier to handle come winter time, more fleability with storage. Cons, well it is a bit more expensive. It all depends on the farmers individual set up really.

pakalasa

Also with Bales - no effluent and easier to work out if you have enough for the winter.

snowman707

vincenzolorenzo wrote: »

Basicaly he cuts 19 acres so at €100 an acre for the pit that works out at €1900. We mowed, baled, wrapped and stacked 168 bales for him off the same ground and the bill came in at €1800.

who supplied the plastic?

foundation10

If you take an average yield off an acre which is 15 bales at a price of say €12 per bale delivered and wrapped to your yard works out at €180 per acre. Average cost for pit these days is €100 per acre (Plastic for entire pit should be no more than €120). Bales have always been more expensive.

snowman707

the problem with bales is the inconsticensty with the amount of grass in each bale,

we made 146 bales last year, the grass was left out flat for a day after been mowed then about 18ft. was made into a row. up left a couple of hours & picked up with a fusion2. the bales were the best packed I have seen. the year before a fellow with krone chopper baler "found" over 200 bales in the same field

MfMan

I switched over to pit from bales last year (bucking the trend I'd say.) There's work in covering the pit but it's over in 1/2 - 1 day. Drawing in and stacking bales is tedious too and you have to be careful not to tear them. Obvious advantage of bales is that you don't have to close up all your meadows at once. In terms of wastage, a lot of our bales used go mouldy towards end of winter / start of spring. The pit had a sliver of wastage along the top of the walls but was fine everywhere else. Much more annoying having to fork out mouldy bits from the bales and leave it aside. Also, cattle used to pull in much more of the bales into the pens than the chopped silage; thus cleaner pens after pit. Effluent was no big problem from either. In feeding terms easier to leave in blocks of silage in front of cattle than backing in bales, more manual handling and messing with net and plastic with the latter. Pit cover has to be rolled back usually one a week or so, half an hour of a task. Because I work off-farm the quicker I can get the job done the better, thus pit is superior. I had to invest in a little loader and grab for the pit but the loader also does other jobs around the yard. Pit usually works out cheaper, especially when you think about having to dispose of the bale wrapping properly. Chopped pit silage may not suit suckler farmers, I know of a man who changed from precision-chop to wagon-chop and then went to all bales altogether for this reason.

In summary, I found the pit works out marginally better in terms of cost, manual handling, quality, speed of feeding etc. I'm not sorry I went back to the pit but it may not suit everyone.

irish_bob

foundation10 wrote: »

If you take an average yield off an acre which is 15 bales at a price of say €12 per bale delivered and wrapped to your yard works out at €180 per acre. Average cost for pit these days is €100 per acre (Plastic for entire pit should be no more than €120). Bales have always been more expensive.

15 bales is not an average yield , its a massive yield , an average would be more like 10 or 12 , on our home farm , the grass is tedded and it greatly reduces the number of bales per acre while increasing the dry matter , that said , on paper bales are always more expensive but you tend to have better quality than in a pit

wclarke20

Bales are no doubt easier to mange in the winter and very quick to feed. There is however a lot plastic to get rid of at the end so you need to be organised or your place will be destroyed.
You also need a location to store them close to your yard.
If you could invest then in maybe a mower and wrapper at first, you could bring the cost down a bit.
We do the bales every year but bringing the dam things from the field to the yard is a painful operation as you can only bring 2 per go.

Overall, less waste and much easier to mange than silage pits = :o

vincenzolorenzo

snowman707 wrote: »

who supplied the plastic?

We supplied the plastic. All the farmer had to do was draw the bales from the field to the yard to be wrapped, and I gave him a hand with that too

vincenzolorenzo

wclarke20 wrote: »

We do the bales every year but bringing the dam things from the field to the yard is a painful operation as you can only bring 2 per go.

This is a common enough complaint. Having to move bales from the field to the yard after they have been wrapped is a disaster. Its far better for everyone involved to draw the bales down before they are wrapped and then wrap them beside the stack. That way the chances of ripping the plastic is very small and even if you do the wrapper is beside you so you can throw the bale back up for a rewrap.

reilig

snowman707 wrote: »

the problem with bales is the inconsticensty with the amount of grass in each bale,

we made 146 bales last year, the grass was left out flat for a day after been mowed then about 18ft. was made into a row. up left a couple of hours & picked up with a fusion2. the bales were the best packed I have seen. the year before a fellow with krone chopper baler "found" over 200 bales in the same field

I agree with you. There is a serious issue with the inconsistency of the amount in each bale. Contractors are cute when it comes to getting paid per bale and some can easily make a few more bales per acre without the farmer noticing much difference in size. But it pays to find a good contractor.

The way that i work is:

Have an 8ft disc mower so mow all the meadows myself.
I shake out meadows twice wth a haybob - it reduces the bale count per acre.
I row them up and try to make 3 to 4 ft wide rows to ensure better bale consistency.
My brother in law bales for me at cost €3 per bale.
I wrap my own bales.
Bought wrap at €55 per roll this year and each roll wraps approximately 32 bales and costs approx €1.70 per bale for wrap.
I draw the bales close to the stacking area and wrap there.
I stack bales 2 at a time with double bale handler and can average 60 bales per hour.
Costs this year are estimated at:

60 acres = 600 bales
600 x €3 per bale for baling = €1800
600 x 1.70 for wrap = €1020
Diesel = €600
Total = €3420 for 60 acres.

Take into account my own time, wear and tear on tractors and machinery and you could add another €2000 to the cost I'm sure.

Have the facilities for making a pit of silage, but I keep sheep and tend to feed them on some meadows until the end of may before I put slurry on them and take them up. My silage season runs from mid june to the beginning of August with some second cut in the end of august. I wouldn't be able to farm the way that i do if I had to close all my meadows to cut all in the one go.
I can see how pit silage would suit farmers with drier land, but for the last number of years only half of my meadows have been fit to spread fertilizer or slurry on before the end of may.

Horses for courses I guess

curious guy

ah yeah say we will be sticking to the pit sillage for the time being. The pit is directly near a new slatted shed we built with the grant and its a messy ole job taken off the wrappin off the bales..and wouldnt have the great gear for the wraps.
Just in relation to the grant for the shed its fair after putting farmers under pressure we are getting ours over three years now instead of one. Looks like they broke there word and landed a lot of farmers in it.

snowman707

vincenzolorenzo wrote: »

This is a common enough complaint. Having to move bales from the field to the yard after they have been wrapped is a disaster. Its far better for everyone involved to draw the bales down before they are wrapped and then wrap them beside the stack. That way the chances of ripping the plastic is very small and even if you do the wrapper is beside you so you can throw the bale back up for a rewrap.

very few balers & wrappers left in this area, 3 combi's are doing the most of the work, so the bales are wrapped before they hit the ground for the first time.

mink_man

handyness sake, you don't have to be out with the fork!
you can be gone for a while and bring in the bales when you come back.
bales usually dont take the whole day!