Re: corn silage question

Posted by don jr on November 14, 2011 at 21:49:30 from (72.85.20.246):

In Reply to: corn silage question posted by jacksonduper on November 13, 2011 at 20:11:31:

An old master farmer told me years ago that silage is the cheapest feed going. Figure about 15 tons per acre, vice hay at 3-4 tons. Your silage will cost about $300, or about $ 20 per ton. If you produce hay, it will be worth about $200, at least this year, or more, meaning an acre will prooduce about $6-800 worth of hay, which is usually very easy to sell for a profit. But the same tonnage would require about four times the amount of acreage to produce the same result.

We produce about 30 acres or so per year to feed 60-80 cows through the winter. STarted with a $ 500 NH717, and a JD 125 chuck wagon into a trench. That is now a NH 892, and JD 716's into a concrete bunk with a blacktop floor. We did put concrete into the trench floor, but over the years, the walls slowly spalled into the trench, mixing a lot of dirt into the silage, and the cows, while they will eat about anything, still refuse a lot of mud. It was a pain to clean out of the bunks, too. I also bought a used blower at a sale for $50 and built a short spout, put it on a rotator base for a chopper spout and bolted it to the top of the blower- it beats putting a wagon into the trench to unload and greatly extends the life of the floor chains and running gear. I've had the new above ground for four years now, and love it over the trench. We blow in from the side, and level and pack with a four wheel loader tractor. No more dirt in the bunks, the herds eats it all, no more mud in the bottom of the trench, no groundhogs, and it produces great silage.

I also use a few bags of wheat seed or a few bushels of feed wheat on top during the last packing job. It will germinate in a few days and form a tight seal across the top, and rather than pay big oil for a hunk of plastic, I just feed the cover with the feed. The cows seem to love it, and it seals the silage very well.

The blacktop floor is about half the cost of concrete, just make sure the mix is for a high acid environment- it will hold up better. use at least a four to six inch layer.

We also plant about two acres of corn for every one we plan to use for silage. Most years, the grain will pay for for our silage, and in a dry year, most of it, and the extra acreage can be chopped if needed. It's also a heck of a lot faster than hay, ton for ton. Good luck with it- you'll learn tricks as you go- biggest one I've found yet is to take an extra day and make sure your equipment is ready, your knives sharp and set the shear bar tight, and fill as fast as you can and keep it packed tight.

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