Silage making – keeping on top of costs
WHILE SOME growers insist the effective control of silage operations requires the purchase of all the machinery necessary to complete the task, others believe that being able to summon the services of a contractor is control in itself.
It all comes down to an individual’s viewpoint, the prevailing circumstances and, it would be fair to suggest, the ability to perform some pretty nifty number crunching to discover which route is the most financially viable.
Dairy farmer John Core’s view is that to invest in a forage harvester, tedder, rake and mower – plus a clamp loader and a few trailers – cannot make sense for a single farm business.
Based near Balderstone, Blackburn, John runs his 170 cows and followers on 120ha (300 acres). Herd average is 7500 litres a year and a high percentage of the milk is processed on the farm, bottled and retailed through local shops and milk rounds.
“There was a time when we used to make our own silage,” he explains.
“But I wouldn’t even begin to think about doing it now. Our focus is on milk production and milk processing – not on ensiling forage.”
purchase
It’s an argument that is hard to ignore, but the picture is not quite as straightforward as it may appear. Two years ago Mr Core purchased a new 3.1m trailed mower conditioner.
“I know it seems a strange decision to mow grass and then employ a contractor to get it in the clamp but I feel that having the control of when we mow a field is important if I am to end up with good quality silage in the clamp – which is what it’s all about,” he explains.
He liaises with his contractor when he is about to start mowing to ensure the grass can be ensiled within 48 hours.
“We use the Kuhn mower to knock down about 55ha (140 acres) of first cut silage in a couple of days and the contractor can have it all in the clamp only a day later.
“The point is that by having our own mower we get to control the silage operation from the start – cutting the grass at its optimum growth stage,” he says.
It also means that, with the grass cleared so quickly, the fields can be top dressed, encouraging the grass to re-grow.
“When we used to make our own silage each cut would be a week-long operation. With two cuts that would mean we had lost two week’s production from the fields.”
So how do the costs stack up? Mr Core is unsure.
“My contractor charges about £11/ha (£27/acre) and it would have been another £3/ha (£7/acre) if he did the mowing. I know I’ve got the mower’s depreciation and running costs to cover, but I feel we end up with higher quality silage which benefits our business and reduces our feed costs overall.”
For Jim Rowland, who runs a dairy farm about 30 miles from John Core, the thought of using a contractor to make his silage is not one to be entertained.
“In the past we used a contractor but with his commitments to other customers it was nearly always impossible to get him when we wanted him.
“I really believe that silage making is too important an operation to leave in the hands of others,” he insists.
Just north of Preston, Mr Rowland’s 110ha (270 acre) farm is home to 160 cows, 100 followers and an over-wintered flock of sheep. Apart from 8ha (20 acres) of whole-crop winter wheat, grass silage forms the mainstay of the cows’ ration. “We aim to make about 2000t each year which we get from 140 acres of first cut, about 95 acres of second and 40 acres of third,” he explains.
“We can start when we want to, stop when we want to and we don’t call on the services of anyone.”
With an armoury of kit which includes a trailed 2.8m mower conditioner, an 8.5m tedder and 7.3m rake, grass is harvested using a trailed forager.
“Our main investment has been in the mower which is only a couple of years old,” he explains.
“I bought the forager second-hand and it costs less than a contractor would charge to make our silage.”
But silage making is not just about having the right machinery, it is also about having the right operators.
A detail not lost on Mr Rowland who considers himself fortunate in currently having a sufficient number of relatives available and willing to help out during the silage period.
“Labour is an increasingly rare commodity,” he says. “If we couldn’t get enough people of the right calibre to help us we might have to re-think the whole operation.”
success
He emphasises that mowing is one of the key operations in successful silage production.
“You’ve got to be able to press on with the mower so that an area of mown grass can be treated as one entity when the forager moves in to harvest it,” he says.
“Even in the small fields we have here I would be disappointed if we couldn”t manage to cut over 60 acres in a day – the mower just keeps going.”
The mower conditioner is usually set to spread grass wide. However, if the weather looks doubtful the deflectors are closed up to leave a narrow, more weatherproof swath.
“We aim to make silage with a 25-30%DM,” says Mr Rowland. “It is an essential ingredient in our feeding regime and to entrust its making to others is not an option for us.”