Duchy Originals

The Sweet Smell of Silage

Posted in Crops Organic Farming Farming Techniques ,  The Weather by David Wilson

I'm often asked, ''What is silage?'



People have some very strange ideas about silage and even think its manure! Silage is preserved grass. How do we preserve it? We mow the grass with a big mower and then leave it to wilt, ideally in the sun, to take some of the moisture out.

Twenty four hours later we rake it up into rows and then pick it up with a forage harvester which chops the grass to a short length and blows it into the trailer. The chopped grass is taken straight back to the farm and tipped into a silage clamp.

We then push it up with a loading shovel and drive all over it to get the air out because making silage is an anaerobic process - you don't want oxygen in there. If you do, it starts composting. Within three or four weeks it has finished its fermentation and we are left with sweet smelling silage. It's about the same acidity as pickles!

We've attempted silage making on the farm but we've been hampered by the recent rain. At the weekend, we did about 77 acres, less than a quarter of the cut, and hopefully we will do the rest when the weather picks up. In total, seven of us worked on it.

By the end of the summer we should have enough silage to keep us going through the winter. This is the main feed for the dairy cows and beef cattle. Silage cut in May will produce a lot more milk than silage cut in early June but there will be less of it. It's a question of finding the right balance between quantity and quality. You aim to cut on a certain day but the English weather always has the last laugh!

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