Pit Silage

yessam

Does anyone else thing that the pit silage is going off quicker this year because of the mild wet weather

1chippy

yessam wrote: »

Does anyone else thing that the pit silage is going off quicker this year because of the mild wet weather

Same problem, were just trying to keep the face cleaned over and back. just getting back off the ramp now and finding were getting better silage.

MfMan

yessam wrote: »

Does anyone else thing that the pit silage is going off quicker this year because of the mild wet weather

Yes, top layer seems to 'blacken' quite quickly these days. A good frost would delay this process somewhat I'd imagine.

keep going

actually i think the opposite this year but it could be just ours

F.D

Just finished all wraps and started into the pit, cattle seem to be going slower on it, maybe its just better quality than the wraps, or maybe it will take them time to adjust, over all it doesent seem to be going off that quick will probably see it more as we get into the pit

flatout11

seems to be the same problem the country over, lads were blaming the unusually high temperatures

Muckit

1chippy wrote: »

just getting back off the ramp now and finding were getting better silage.

Same here. In a way it's comforting to know that it's not just me! It's very frustrating to burst your ass sealing a pit and making good silage, to see it start to go off before your eyes from secondary fermention once it's opened :mad:

But like you said, I've noticed the problem is starting to ease now once of 'ramp'.

Muckit

F.D wrote: »

Just finished all wraps and started into the pit

This is the way we usually feed out silage if we have bales and pit. But was talking to a lad that reckons it's the opposite way it should be done. ie use your pit first, then bales. He reckons bales are better used in the spring when the temp is starting to rise, rather than having a large open pit face to stop from rotting.

Muckit

The oul lad always had the idea that in a perfect world ....(and yard :rolleyes:), a silage pit should be accessible from both sides. That way it could be filled from one side and fed from the other.

You'd open the pit from the high end. Once you had the covers pulled up to the top, you would be rolling them and tyres DOWN as opposed to UP the pit. Surface water,leaves etc would be flowing DOWN the slope and not back up under the covers you were trying to roll!

Come spring time:

• You've have a smaller pit face to try keep fresh. This would give you the option to let out cattle gradually
• A relatively dry and clean roll of polythene on the right side for walking up with again
• The majority of tyres to the front of the pit where they are nearby for throwing up the following year

yessam

I am going to feed little and often and keep the face fresh for a while. But it seems its in the shed its going off fast.

yessam

Tempatues are expected to stay up around 10 or 11c for next week. great weather but not for silage

Attie

Muckit wrote: »

The oul lad always had the idea that in a perfect world ....(and yard :rolleyes:), a silage pit should be accessible from both sides. That way it could be filled from one side and fed from the other.

You'd open the pit from the high end. Once you had the covers pulled up to the top, you would be rolling them and tyres DOWN as opposed to UP the pit. Surface water,leaves etc would be flowing DOWN the slope and not back up under the covers you were trying to roll!


Come spring time:

• You've have a smaller pit face to try keep fresh. This would give you the option to let out cattle gradually
• A relatively dry and clean roll of polythene on the right side for walking up with again
• The majority of tyres to the front of the pit where they are nearby for throwing up the following year

Muckit
The oul lad not so slow when ye think about it.
Silage going of here as well.
Made round bales last back end fermentation very poor but twas so wet could not get bales of ground.

Muckit

Attie wrote: »

Muckit
The oul lad not so slow when ye think about it.

He comes up with a few good ones alright..... now and again

He also had idea to make pit in a 'bun' shape (as he'd say himself). Basically pit would be ramped front and back, for much the same reasons I mentioned in previous post. When I looked on youtube, it appears it's a very common way to make pit silage in other countries (especially wagon silage)

Also I believe we make pits too high in Ireland. A lower, narrower and longer pit would be easier to keep right once opened. Granted bigger concrete slab area would be needed

keep going

slight side issue but anybody use anything on the top of the pit to cut down on waste.aside from the silage lost its costs money to get rid of it as dung as well

blue5000

I use salt, only on the maize though. 2nd sheet of poly, also roll of blue builders poly on the walls before the silage goes in is a big help. Fold it in over the top of the pit under the main sheet. Bit of a pain in the asre at feeding out but it cuts down on the waste at the shoulder of the pit.

Muckit

What's works best, a slab with walls or without? We have none but often thought that a slab with walls would hold more.

Is it harder take silage out at sides when you have walls? Is it harder seal the edges?

1chippy

Personally i rather the walls, just seems tidier for our set up but ive seen a lot of lads without and works well for them. no prob sealing along walls or getting into it, you get the hang with the grab after you try shearing concrete. sealing we just lay a sheet along all sides when filling the pit. The last few years we stopped trying to save the cover also, now we just cut it back with a stanley knife at each feed. saves a lot of hassle trying to roll back 10 % cover and 90% water.
There was a big farmer down in tip that done sort of a trial where the pit wasnt even covered, he reckoned that the amount of waste didnt equate to the value of covering the pit. heard this second hand so might be off, but i was told that he had around 12-14 " of rot. was cutting something on the lines of 150-200 acres per pit. stacked high. Anyone heard of this or know how successful. wouldnt like to chance it mmyself though.

blue5000

1chippy wrote: »

Personally i rather the walls, just seems tidier for our set up but ive seen a lot of lads without and works well for them. no prob sealing along walls or getting into it, you get the hang with the grab after you try shearing concrete. sealing we just lay a sheet along all sides when filling the pit. The last few years we stopped trying to save the cover also, now we just cut it back with a stanley knife at each feed. saves a lot of hassle trying to roll back 10 % cover and 90% water.
There was a big farmer down in tip that done sort of a trial where the pit wasnt even covered, he reckoned that the amount of waste didnt equate to the value of covering the pit. heard this second hand so might be off, but i was told that he had around 12-14 " of rot. was cutting something on the lines of 150-200 acres per pit. stacked high. Anyone heard of this or know how successful. wouldnt like to chance it mmyself though.

ya heard of it alright near thurles, his pits were in sheds and they used a skin of mollasses on top of the pit, I could be wrong but the same guy used hen **** as a source of protein, so the story goes.

Attie

Muckit wrote: »

He comes up with a few good ones alright..... now and again

He also had idea to make pit in a 'bun' shape (as he'd say himself). Basically pit would be ramped front and back, for much the same reasons I mentioned in previous post. When I looked on youtube, it appears it's a very common way to make pit silage in other countries (especially wagon silage)

Also I believe we make pits too high in Ireland. A lower, narrower and longer pit would be easier to keep right once opened. Granted bigger concrete slab area would be needed

Muckit
The bun shape is fine I use it with earthen wall's keeps the water at bay also think ye need to set up your pit to suite your situation every one different as we know.
If running 50 cattle every year shouldn’t be rocket science to keep the face fresh.
attie

yessam

Will have to clean out a lot of gone off silage from shed tomorrow. do yea put in silage straight from face of pit tomorrow and let cattle go through it or else shear some off face of pit and try put in all good silage .

Muckit

Often wondered those of you feeding silage outside along by a barrier... does the silage go off quicker if it rains??

stanflt

no real props here as feeding every day-3 different silage pits and a brewers can be a pain when its raining


By stanflt at 2012-01-09

By stanflt at 2012-01-09

By stanflt at 2012-01-09

Muckit

stanflt wrote: »

no real probs here as feeding every day-3 different silage pits and a brewers can be a pain when its raining

Economy of scale wins out again! :rolleyes: All those hungry cows!

warfie35

Hi all, second pit opened, some cows thrown cuds on cubicels,looks like probs with ph,not tested yet,what can i do till i get test results,heard bread soda
sprinkled on silage might help, thanks