Menu

Description: For haylage, hay is cut, raked into windrows, and dried to 30 to 40% dry matter. Towed and powered by a tractor as shown here and in NAL #4896 and #4897, a pick-up mechanism funnels the hay from a windrow into a chopper that cuts the hay stems to an average length of 3/8 inch. Corn for silage is chopped (e.g., NAL #4891, #4892 and #4893) when the corn kernels are in the early dent stage. The choppers in images NAL #4893 and #4896 are equipped with tanks to add liquid nutrients or preservatives to the chopped forage. Self-propelled choppers (e.g., NAL #4898 and #4899), an alternative to towed choppers, are best suited for larger operations. Chopped forage is blown into a trailing enclosed wagon or truck, and transported to a silo usually located near where cattle will be fed. At the silo, an apron at the bottom of the forage wagon slowly unloads the forage into the hopper of a blower (e.g., NAL #4900, #4901 and #4902) powered by a tractor. The blower elevates the forage into a tower silo (e.g., NAL #4654) usually 40 to 80 feet high and 14 to 30 feet in diameter. Weight compresses the forage and excludes air to create an anaerobic environment for fermentation, thereby preserving the forage as silage or haylage. As an alternative to a tower silo, the chopped forage may be dumped into a bunker (horizontal) silo (e.g., NAL #3301), where a tractor is driven over it to exclude air. Fermentation (ensiling) normally requires about a week.

Resolution: 357x504

File Size: 41.63 KB