GREEN V BLACK wrap

Muckit

Green (or even white) wrap is supposed to produce better silage, so why the hell is the majority of the stuff for sale in Ireland black?

A contractor we got years ago (he retired) used it and it made excellent silage. ....this was back in the day when silage bales were only getting popular and you tried hard for hay before baling the sh*t for silage

vanderbadger

Muckit wrote: »

Green (or even white) wrap is supposed to produce better silage, so why the hell is the majority of the stuff for sale in Ireland black?

A contractor we got years ago (he retired) used it and it made excellent silage. ....this was back in the day when silage bales were only getting popular and you tried hard for hay before baling the sh*t for silage

used green volac wrap last year, was very disappointed in it, to my mind it ripped very easily compared to black and I had alot of mould on the bales this year which i wouldnt normally have. never again will i use it anyway

BalingMad

vanderbadger wrote: »

Muckit wrote: »

Green (or even white) wrap is supposed to produce better silage, so why the hell is the majority of the stuff for sale in Ireland black?

A contractor we got years ago (he retired) used it and it made excellent silage. ....this was back in the day when silage bales were only getting popular and you tried hard for hay before baling the sh*t for silage

used green volac wrap last year, was very disappointed in it, to my mind it ripped very easily compared to black and I had alot of mould on the bales this year which i wouldnt normally have. never again will i use it anyway

I can second that 100%, used green Volac on one field and black with other at start of season drawing bales with keltrans. The green didn't hold up good at all

gerico

also used green volac last summer, (alledgedly best available at time), not happy with bales as almost all have mould full way around bale. will use black this year as i didn't have mould with black plastic

Muckit

well I guess i got my answer there :rolleyes:!

Finno59

well, on paper a lighter colour wrap like white or green should repel the heat from the bale instead of attract it like black. This would reduce radiation heating of the plastic and allow the fermentation to be completed better.
The problems above sound like they could have been stopped with more plastic but maybe green volac was just bad.
But ive never used white or green because the contractor gets the plastic and he always has black.

leg wax

when white came out years ago we used it,the bales had a green slime allover them never again,once you go black you will never go back:D

Conflats

We only ever use white( green if we have too) and never had to throw a bale out though we always give a days wilt, and wrap straight away in field with 6 layers and draw on flat bed trailers. Btw it's the volac stuff best one imo grandfather uses black and ends up with a few lost every year

passie

I used the green stuff last year and was disappointed with it .. There was mould on all the bales and some were completely rotten.. They were wrapped in the field beside the yard and got no hardship being stacked .. I was thinking that maybe the pins in the bale spike on the loader might be too short they are 2ft pins .. Would the loading and unloading be hard on them ? Any thoughts ?

Muckit

passie wrote: »

I used the green stuff last year and was disappointed with it .. There was mould on all the bales and some were completely rotten.. They were wrapped in the field beside the yard and got no hardship being stacked .. I was thinking that maybe the pins in the bale spike on the loader might be too short they are 2ft pins .. Would the loading and unloading be hard on them ? Any thoughts ?

A bale handler rather than a spike is what is recommended. Or if using a spike, have long spikes and spike low down. A spike will only loosen the bale though when you think about it, creating air pockets. The wrapper won't be able to eliminate these. It just seals them in.

A spike should only be used for bale silage in the winter time when feeding out or when they are to be fed a day or two after being spiked.

vanderbadger

it seems like pin holes came in mine just from wrapping , even though it was volac the stuff seems more brittle than the black wrap

Kileir

The consensus seems to be to stick with the black wrap. Any preferences regarding which brand to use - or which to avoid?

Also, anyone get any prices yet? I heard EUR83 being mentioned for 20+ rolls (here in leinster) but have yet to confirm that

passie

Muckit wrote: »

A bale handler rather than a spike is what is recommended. Or if using a spike, have long spikes and spike low down. A spike will only loosen the bale though when you think about it, creating air pockets. The wrapper won't be able to eliminate these. It just seals them in.

A spike should only be used for bale silage in the winter time when feeding out or when they are to be fed a day or two after being spiked.

Your right about the bale handler it would be better for the bale but its not nearly as handy for loading the bales though. I will have to try bale handler cant have all these bales wasted too expensive........ Thanks Muckit for your advice...

pms7

€78 group deal. Black I think

redzerologhlen

Kileir wrote: »

The consensus seems to be to stick with the black wrap. Any preferences regarding which brand to use - or which to avoid?

Also, anyone get any prices yet? I heard EUR83 being mentioned for 20+ rolls (here in leinster) but have yet to confirm that

Avoid quinn wrap like a suck calf with a scour!!!

vanderbadger

anyone use silawrap, its made in ireland. 85 euros a roll

Jools Poker

I'd really also like anyone's input on the best wrap available (green or white) here or from an external manufacturer and what kinda prices are on offer?
thanks

Ltrvale

we used white and green bout ten years ago had same issue as other people said mould and slime on bales. it very popular on the continent, but i reckon it works better because they have the heat, where as in Ireland i reckon our bales need all the heat they can get to help fermentation

Atilathehun

Bradfield wrote: »

we used white and green bout ten years ago had same issue as other people said mould and slime on bales. it very popular on the continent, but i reckon it works better because they have the heat, where as in Ireland i reckon our bales need all the heat they can get to help fermentation

More important than colour of wrap is number of layers put on the bale!
People normally use four layers. I have not been satisfied with my bale preservation with a few years.
Put six layers on half my bales last year, using volac black wrap.
Six layer bales preserved much better!!!

Ltrvale

Atilathehun wrote: »

More important than colour of wrap is number of layers put on the bale!
People normally use four layers. I have not been satisfied with my bale preservation with a few years.
Put six layers on half my bales last year, using volac black wrap.
Six layer bales preserved much better!!!

Ya your dead right we always use six layers, we used to use volac gave up last year as it was getting too dear so we used co-op source very happy with it. we used another contractor to do some baling he uses a cheap make of plastic cant think of the name it was very good too