When is a silage clamp exempt from SSAFO?
exempt silage clamps do not need to be SSAFO compliant as long as they were completed before 1st September 1991 - but just how long can you continue to use them?
Does maize silage improve with age?
Is maize silage like a good wine, does it improve with aging or is it best fed as soon as possible to retain as much “freshness” as possible, and does it just go off if it is kept too long?
Is it worth sheeting silage?
What does it really cost you to sheet the silage clamp, and what are the downsides of not covering the silage at all?
Are maize or corn knives worth the cost?
Maize knives are designed to make the most of all the horsepower in chopping these really tough silage crops like maize or corn - or so the manufactures would like you to believe - but are they really worth the extra cost to buy and change?
How to bale maize silage
How can you make the most of maize or corn silage if you don’t have a clamp, or is it possible to bale maize or wholecrop silage?
When to cut silage in a drought?
So how should you react to hot dry weather and what is the best way to make silage in these conditions? Should you mow whilst the grass is green and lush or wait until there is a bit more bulk
Precast or cast in-situ concrete silage clamp walls?
The walls of a silage clamp - if you’re having walls - will probably be made of concrete…. I’m often asked if precast is better than cast on site or cast in-situ walls.
Is adding beet pulp to the silage clamp a good idea?
is there any merit in adding ingredients such as sugar beet pulp to the clamp as you are making the silage; what are the benefits and what are the risks?
How to keep silage effluent off clean areas?
A sleeping policeman or a channel across the front of the silage clamp? Which should you choose, and is there another option to consider?
Push-off buckrake or silage fork flick?
When it comes to levelling silage on the clamp are you a fork flicker or a push over?…. But here is the thing - in my opinion there is no such thing as the perfect flick!
What’s the cheapest way to build a silage clamp?
a silage clamp is a business investment and so the optimum solution should be the lowest capital cost for the anticipated outcome. In other words how do you spend the least on a clamp and still get good silage out of it?
Are remote silage clamps a good idea?
faced with land spread over half a dozen counties, where the hell do you build the silage clamps to hold all this stuff?
Why is Silage Effluent so pollutive?
there are a whole load of rules and regulations concerning how you deal with the stinky stuff. So exactly what is it about silage effluent that makes all those strict rules so necessary?
Why wet silage is bad silage
Our silage results are good apart from the low dry matter and low sugars, but why are the sugars so low? ….because there are three silage values that are tightly linked together, low dry matter, pH and available sugars.
Are fibres in concrete silo floors worth the cost?
Is it worth paying to have fibres added to your ready mix concrete for a new silage clamp?
Automated silage clamp sheeting - fantasy or future?
a machine that sheets the whole silage clamp, weighs the covers down and can also do the whole thing in reverse to open up for feeding
The temperature of silage and how hot is too hot?
it’s common knowledge that hot silage is not great silage, but silage does heat up during fermentation so when does this heat become a problem?
Which silage inoculant should you choose?
If you have decided that silage inoculants can help you make better use of the forage you grow, then the obvious question is which one should you use
Is bagged silage better silage?
maybe silage in bags (or should that be silage sausages) offers the best of both worlds, the flexibility of bales without the building cost of clamps?
Is a silage shear grab worth the money?
the shear grab is an extremely valuable piece of kit that might just be the most important thing outside the milking parlour