We don't chop as much silage as we used to. A few pictures I took when I had the time.

Sure enough good feed!

The dairy farmers here are the only ones that chop silage around here anymore, for the most part anyway. I knew a fellow who used to fill his silo and feed it to his beef cattle, but he quit that years ago. Makes some real good feed.

Richard, it's getting to be that time of year!



We've got about 50 acres to chop up here sometime in the next week or two. They are calling for mid 30's tonight and hopefully it doesn't freeze. Always sucks when the corn patch turns silver.....


Blend it with alfalfa and screenings pellets and feed it to the calves and bred heifers.

Silage in the mixer wagon really cuts down on dust which is great.

Years ago, ( 1950's) we chopped it while it was a little more green by hand and loaded it by hand onto a wagon Then mixed it with alfalfa that we baled right after it was cut. We did that for ease of hauling it in. Then chopped the corn and alfalfa at the silo for our dairy cows. I think that fermented ensilage kept the cows drunk all winter and made them more mellow. It made good milk.

Early on, the silo was right at the barn and we could wheel barrow it to the cows.Then the milk inspectors said that was no good and we had to go to a trench silo away from the barn. That meant we had to hand shovel it onto the wagon, haul to the barn, and then wheel barrow it to the cows. We had no front end loaders back then

lol

I remember in the late 1950s. My dad would load the pickup with silage. He positioned the pickup parallel to a long line of bunks. He put the pickup in lowest gear, we called compound.
Then he hopped in the back of the pick up and scooped silage into the bunks. I was steering the pickup along the side of the bunks. I was about six years old and could not reach the pedals.
That was over 60 years ago.
Funny how you remember certain things.

We just started ours this afternoon. Going to try and get our wetter fields done before it starts raining Tuesday. First fields a little greener than I'd like but should be fine.

I used to help my neighbor stuff those bags with a mix of silage and corn. He had to set traps all around the bag to keep the coons out of it. After a little time went by it smelled like you didn't want to strike a match around it.

Cool stuff going on there guys.

I've known they feed silage for years, from silos and later from those bags I see in the fields like Ben's pics.

Now, coming from a non-cattle person, what's the benefit of silage over just feeding the raw feed stock as hay, cornstalks/ears, and just mixing in the alfalfa?

Better for the cows (easier to digest pre-digested food) ? Better conversion rates? Easier handling? Easier storage? All of the above?

What happens to those bags? Off to the dump? Reusable for another year or two?

Just an interested non-rancher/dairyman asking questions because I love your end product....................the beef/milk/yogurt/cheese....................not the end end product ..................although even that has its uses in my garden!

Geno

Good questions. Why do we feed corn silage? Like breathing air I guess. Cattle can digest the fibers, and it is a safe feed as far as founder, and bloat goes.
,
The corn does not need to be dried, and I'll try to think of more.

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Of course Barry, so will dry hay, dry grains, and a whole lot of other feeds. Beet pulp, beet tops, citrus pulp, cotton seed cake, and a long list of things.

I remember climbing up the ladder in the silo, taking the pick-ax and chopping loose some frozen silage, scooping it down the ladder shaft, removing another door, swinging the pick some more, shoveling some more, climbing down the ladder, kicking enough silage out of the way to let myself out, going down the bunks, spreading it out while the diners shoved my legs with their noses (depositing snot on my jeans), and having one swing his head and catch me in the back of the thigh with a (thankfully, blunted) horn. Good times.

the few dairy farmers left around here that haven't been run out by urban development still do some silage packing for the winter.

there was a time, maybe still is in some areas. that chicken waste/manure was mixed with stuff for the beef cattle to eat.

i don't know if they still do that or not. lot's of it is now sold as compost. and lot's spread on fescue & hybrid bermuda pastures as a fertilizer supplement.

Thanks wabi,

that makes sense in a number of ways.

Geno