Farmer Makes Stacked Bale Silage

Farmer Makes Stacked Bale Silage CROP STORAGE Bag Silos 29-6-17 Alvin Findlay of Snowflake, Manitoba saves money by not having to hire a custom bale wrapper. He makes his own silage bales by covering big stacks of bales with plastic. Findlay makes the bale silage 190 bales at a time. On the bottom layer of the stack, he sets the end bale of each row on a layer of dirt so it tips the outer end of the bale towards the inside of the stack. This is a safety feature that prevents the ends of the stacks from falling out. His bales are 54 to 56 in. in dia. and they're stacked in a 5, 4, 3, 2 formation (five bales across the bottom row, four in the next row, etc.). "Having a stack formation that's five bales wide on the bottom and two-wide on the top, leaves a crease in the plastic at the top of the stack, which collects rainwater and keeps the plastic tight," Findlay explains. He covers each stack with a 50 by 100-ft. piece of silage plastic, which costs about $300, compared to $772 for custom bale wrapping in a tube. "We try not to put the silage plastic on when it's windy. Three people climb up onto the stack and pull the plastic over from one side to the other," he says. "We bank dirt at the bottom of the plastic to seal it, and then use a Shop-Vac to suck the air out." Findlay pokes a small hole through the plastic to insert the vacuum hose, and lets it run for half a day, "just to be safe." It pulls the plastic up tight against the bales. After removing the hose, Findlay uses string to tie the vacuum hole closed. Findlay says he's been making silage bale stacks for 10 years with great success. He points out that his cows prefer silage bales to dry hay, and they don't waste any, either. "The calves are in there at one week old, eating it," he adds. Findlay uses his system on straight alfalfa bales, greenfeed oats bales and even rye, with tremendous success. He bales the swaths at 40 to 50 percent moisture and the bales weigh up to 2,500 lbs. "Silage bales alleviate the problem of waiting for good haying weather, and they guarantee that you don't lose any leaves," he says. "I like the fact that it eliminates the need to rake û that is time consuming and hard on the hay." This year Findlay put up about 2,000 bales of feed this way. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Alvin Findlay, Box 114, Snowflake, Manitoba, Canada R0G 2K0 (ph 204 876-4716).

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