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NEWS MESSAGE
Success factors for perfect silage quality
Part two - the most important aspects
The 2007 harvest season starts in a couple of weeks.
Many factors need to be taken into consideration in order to achieve optimum silage quality. In addition to grassland care and fertilization - which have already been taken care of this year - there are numerous different aspects that need to be taken into account during and after harvesting. We would like to discuss these factors in more detail in a three-part series.
- Cutting date and mower technology
- Harvest
- Storage and silage quality
1. Windrowing
The swath should always be matched to the harvest convoy. If a high-performance silage wagon is in use then the swath should be large enough to ensure the loader wagon is utilised efficiently. Swaths that are too small reduce efficiency and travelling speed during pick-up has to be increased dramatically. The swath should be large enough to ensure that the average loader wagon speed does not exceed 12 km/h. The swath should have a density of between 8 and 15 kg per linear metre.
The width of the swath should be around 80% the width of the pick-up and should be formed distinctly and tidily (see image), so that there is a uniform flow of crop over the whole width of the pick-up.
The windrower tines must not touch the ground so dirt is prevented from entering the forage. The working height should be the same as with the mower, i.e. around 6 cm. To guarantee perfect ground hugging, all Pöttinger rotary windrowers can be equipped with jockey wheels and tandem axles which follow every contour in the ground and guide the tines over every bump.
2. Harvesting
Harvesting should be started as soon as possible: the loader wagon can start work as soon as the windrower has prepared a few swaths. This assumes, however, the machines in the harvest convoy are well-matched. The performance of the windrower should be at least as high as that of the harvest vehicle (loader wagon).
The chopped length is important for good compression in the clamp. Pöttinger loader wagons offer an optimum chopped length that allows excellent compression of the forage without damaging its structure. A theoretical chopped length of between 34 and 50 mm is ideal for all purposes. Shorter chopped lengths - like with a self-propelled harvester - are not ruminant compatible and may cause cattle metabolism problems.
3. Filling the clamp
All Pöttinger silage wagons can be supplied with or without beater rotors. Beater rotors make distribution easier in the clamp because they lay a uniform blanket that can be compressed immediately. If a silage wagon with beater rotors is in use then the vehicle used for compression should be equipped with a front loader or distributor to even out the layers of silage.
The forage should be compressed immediately and continuously in the clamp. The most important factor is that the vehicle used for rolling matches the performance of the rest of the harvest convoy. The weight of the vehicle used for rolling should be at least 1/3 of the load of crop delivered every hour. If 30 tonnes of silage are delivered per hour then the rolling machine must weigh at least 10 tonnes.
The silage in one load should be deposited to form a uniform blanket of around 40 to 50 cm over the clamp. Larger piles cannot be compressed properly and should be redistributed first. This layer must then be rolled before a new layer can be unloaded on top. After 2 or 3 passes the layer should be sufficiently compressed.
Created: 17.05.2007
