Best type of Silage Pit

curious guy

Just wondering what people think the best type of Silage pit is from experience ? eg the ones with the back and side walls and concrete floor ,
the plain in da field mountain of silage or
one down a hole with sloping banks of clay at the back and sides
or other..

in terms of quality of silage and usability,.etc

millertime78

we have the one with the walls on each side and the amount of waste it generated was substantial. It was very hard to keep it from rotting in with the walls. We used to tack on on old cover each side to try reduce it but with mixed results

Our other pit is a sloping slab with run off into a slatted shed. the slab has a sloped toe/step on both sides and at the back. its very easy to cover, very easy to stretch the plastic down and the quality is exceptional. then again quality is dependent on the type of stuff you put in there in the first place.!

Colmm23

The different types of pit generally dont make any difference provided the grass is rolled properly when its been ensiled. In a lot of cases the pit cannot be rolled correcly when there is walls but you will find that once the pit gets over the walls the quality is better on the sides because it can be rolled right out to the edge and thats why you will find that most of the time a clamp has less waste on the sides.
The advantage to walls on the back and sides is you can get more grass into your pit because when there is no walls the sides are sloping in gradually from the start to keep the grass from falling off the edge the whole time.
Hope this answers the question.

irish_bob

im told by many that clay banks are the best , much cheaper than walls and not as much waste along the side
a slab is cheap but the sides are too loose and you end up with waste there as your not going to be able to put tires on the side entirely

curious guy

yeah lad rolling the pit said bank were best for easiness of rolling as well thanks for advice lads