Silage bales

Torc · Silage bales

Anyone know the economics of sowing a 4-acre field with grass and having a contractor make silage bales for sale.
I don't have my own tractor (as yet) but wondered if it was an economic proposition and a worthwhile thing to do with the land.
Is there any more useful purpose that I could put the field to - apart from playing hurling?

chook

I take it you don't want to grow 4 acres of veggies? Very Happy

Have you considered planting trees? e.g. for timber, or your own firewood, perhaps a coppice woodland, something under the Native Woodlands Scheme or the Neighbourwood Scheme? Or a traditional-type grassland orchard if the soil is good?
If it's grass you want to stick with: could you make hay? The small square bales are always in high demand with smallholders and are rather scarce.
What's the soil like and the vegetation at present. Slope? Aspect? Elevation? Rainfall? Pollution issues? Ownership situation and outlook?

Good silage may require re-seeding and plenty of fertilizer.

Our neighbour has a wettish, drained fen, 5-acre field adjacent to us which he uses for cattle and silage (slurry applied); if he was willing to sell and I had the money (the answer to both is 'No') I would plant most of it under alder trees which grow incredibly fast and can be coppiced in rotation. Within 7-8 years and from thereon after we could get a substantial amount of firewood from a field like that. I'd plant the woodland in the form of a large suntrap, grow blackcurrants (a natural companion to Alder) as a cash-crop along the sunny edges and perhaps keep a quarter acre for field-scale crops (I know the site is superb for spuds and cabbages) and integrate some poultry as well. (And in case you wonder... I did not just make that up now but had to write a plan a few years ago in the context of an agroecology course.)

chook

blowin

I don't know much about silage but imagine that it requires more mechanical handling than hay , if only because those large bales are so heavy .
From my very limited experience I would agree that small , square hay bales are a good option . There is plenty of demand and they are easy to transport .
We have about 1 1/2 acres of grass which is reasonable quality for this hilly area but not very good by other standards . It produced 65 sq bales the year after the rushes had been sprayed with something horrible , then approx 180/yr for the past 2 yrs . We don't use chemicals or slurry but do graze it during the spring and autumn . This adds manure , of course , and helps prevent the scutch grass from forming a dense blanket which supresses the better stuff .
Don't forget that you may have to scatter the newly cut hay more than once and 4 acres is a lot to do by hand ! Not to mention pallets and sheeting if the weather turns before you can get it off the field .
And do check the availability of square-baling m/c's well in advance . There a very few around here .
But don't be put off . A good way to learn is to let a an experienced farmer "have the grass" for the first year or two . Let him move his own animals around to manage the grazing . He should also have the essential local contacts for the haymaking machinery . Being right on the spot you can help out in times of crisis and get a bit of "your" hay back in return Wink

But as you will gather I am a novice myself . I am hoping that someone who knows what they are talking about will add a comment or two Laughing

admin

wayland

I think that those that did not <could not> make hay this year and made silage instead did very well. If I had four acres of grass to make silage out of I would make it in a heap. A much quicker and usually more successful method than the bales so I am told. Cheaper too. The contractor only needs to tip and you can do the rest with a tractor and front loader. Did anybody make good hay this year?

Camile

Hello,

The farmer next door doesn't like making sillage because it turns out to be much more expensive than hay due to the cost of the film, and then the cost of disposing of the film afterwards ... and of course it's much more time consuming too ..

on top of that, it has to be well protected from birds and all because once it's wrapped .. the smallest scratch on it will cause it to decay much quicker and can't be stored for the next year ...

and from what he says the animals will do as well on hay than sillage ... and he has some of the loveliest cattle I've seen around.

and this year he still managed to make hay even though the weather was crap ... but 70 years of experience helped him choose the exact right timing and he was carrying the last bale off the field when it started raining ... fair play to him !

Camile

Torc

Hi again and thanks for the replies.
The problem is that I don't have any machinery - other than my trusty spade so planting veg or forestry is out of the question. As regards silage bales or hay, both would require hiring a contractor and as I don't have a hayshed, I thought silage wrap would be easier to sell. But is it an economic proposition to hire a contractor and then try and sell the bales? Any one know what they sell for and how many I'd get per acre?

I have checked out the forestry options but there are so many strings attached to the government schemes t make them useless.

Thanks for all suggestions,

chook

Hi Torc,
how many bales you get off an acre totally depends on the soil type and nutrient status. The price is also somewhat dependent on the quality.
Last year we paid 3.25/bale for good quality bales from Tipperary. Mind you, we were also charged 3.25 for pretty ***** stuff but only bought there because our normal supplier was out.
You could try to sell right off the field to individuals, or perhaps get the likes of Galvins (Ennis) to buy them off you. But storage may come into it after all if the weather is unkind. You can get a lot of bales under a large banner or lorry tarp in the field though.

And, Torc, I keep wondering: do we know each other?

chook

blowin

That 3.25 is for the square bales , of course . They are 3.00 around here .

I just did a quick search on http://www.buyandsell.ie/browse.p...h=silage&textopt=all&o=40 The going rate for round bales of silage appears to 20 to 25 euro . There are a couple of ads for much less than that but I suspect they are one-offs .

Incidentally , it is the crows which are to blame for a lot of the spoilt bales -- their claws make holes in the plastic . The painted marks you often see on the bales are intended to frighten the birds off . Recent research says they make no diffence , according to the local radio , anyway .

I think that the cost-efficiency of using a contractor will depend a lot on how close to you he is based . It won't take him long to do 4 acres so his travel time and costs may be a significant factor . ( 3 visits -- cut , scatter , bale ).

I bet a neighbouring farmer could take a very good guess at how much you should get off your fields Wink

.

Torc

Thanks Blowin,
Buy and Sell is a good way of doing market research.
I just thought of another way - counting the bales in a neighbouring field and gauging the acreage from which they were cut.
I'm slow to ask my neighbours as being a blow-in, hippie, thicko who doesn't even spray his potatoes or use slug pellets, my credibility is already pretty low in agricultural matters.

chook

Hi Torc (and thanks for your PM Wink

),
perhaps talking to your neighbours would actually be the best way to work things out and build up neighbourly relationships at the same time. If in this instance you do as they do (or at least express interest in this possibility) I'm sure they will be forthcoming with information and may even be interested in buying hay/silage off you or know someone who might want to and/or know a decent contractor and/or be able to assess the potential of your land. You'd be surprised how much the tolerance to organics etc has changed over the past decade or so. Organic farming has enjoyed a lot of support under the Rural Environment Protection Scheme and now has its own stand-alone support scheme (it's been taken out of REPS and is now additional to it). I find folks are now much more accepting of things being done 'differently' and I've met quite a few ol' boys who have realized they were led down the garden path by the advisory system of the 70s and 80s.

Nevertheless, if you go down the silage route you will need to apply fertilizer of some kind (normally slurry is applied to the silage ground and/or bag fertilizer) so that'd be another contractor job to factor in. And a soil analysis would be useful too, so as not to waste money on fertilizer that may not be needed for a while (e.g. P) or could even become a pollutant if oversupplied.

chook

chook

Torc, it just dawned on me - you are not down near the Shannon, but up near Galway Bay, right? Then the land should be nice rich, sweet, well-drained limestone land? If that's the case it would produce lovely hay...

Torc

Hi Guys,
I've no problem with the hay bales. What concerns me is the economics of the thing. Is it worthwhile getting a contractor in to cut them and then sell them on.
I've no machinery and will hardly go down that route anyway but I want to use the field productively as otherwise it turns into stuipeogs or hummocks.
By the way, I hope I'm not keeping you from your work. Shouldn't you be out fixing the wall or feeding the pigs - I know I should.
Thanks,
Torc

keithrawlins

you should get about 3 ton pe cut per acre, 2,1/2 for hay,at a round bail of a ton. on good grass with 2-3 cuts a yaer. it all depnds on the price you can get it cut at, have you though about renting the land out until you need it yourself ,its an income and someone eles doesthe wok for you.

chook

Hi Torc,
I was just going to suggest the same thing - hadn't seen Keith's post.
We had a half acre we could not use for the first 3 or 4 years and just let the neighbour use it for free. The grass did not get rank and the neighbour was happy.

If you can get a bit of dosh for it in the meantime, while you figure out a long-term plan, all the better.

chook

blowin

blowin

Torc

Thanks Blowin' now we're getting down to the maths of the thing.
I'll have to print that out and sit down with a pen and paper.
Meanwhile, here's something I found on an English smallholder website:
"Hay production, from an average lowland pasture, utilising little or no artificial fertiliser, should produce about 2 tonnes per acre.
In small bales this amounts to 80 bales (40 bales per tonne @ 25Kg each).
Big round bales of five-foot diameter will weigh about 200 to 250 Kg (four or five to the tonne)"

So I reckon, 80 bales per acre = 320 bales for my 4-acre field selling at 4 euro = 1,280euro. I should be able to pay a contractor and have a profit out of that.

As regards my neighbours: I have been letting them 'have the grass' for the last couple of years and got the occasional pint and a cheery wave. Now I want to take over myself and manage the field organically.

Also, as I am not a greedy man, I would be generous with any tractor owner who wants to convert that diesel into hay.

You know, this is a mighty forum.
All the best,

Torc

PS Sorry 3 euro a bale = 960 euro

blowin

A local lad tells me that hay has now gone to 4 euro so you might have been right the first time Laughing

. I don't know how general that is . I will ask around .
I know nothing about hayledge but is that a possible alternative ?

Torc

Thanks Blowin for the input. I'll talk to the local contractors in the new year and do some more sums then.

Meanwhile, it's back to preparing the no-dig beds for the spring, re-building the polytunnel and the two pigs are now as big as hippos and will be off to the supreme sausage-maker in a couple of weeks.

And they call this the Good Life!