Silage making at Hall Farm...
Silage is like pickled grass, it is made during the summer and then kept to feed the animals in the winter. A lot of hard work is involved in making it....
The grass is cut using a large mower mounted on a tractor. Once cut, the grass falls into rows on the ground. It is left to dry for 6 to 18 hours, depending on the weather. The grass stems are still full length, up to 45cm long.
A second tractor uses a rake to push three rows of grass into one big row to make it easier for the forage harvester to pick it all up.
The forage harvester picks up the grass and chops it into short lengths before before blowing the cut grass up the spout and into the trailers. The driver of the forage harvester must concentrate on picking up all the grass and not wasting any. The driver of the tractor pulling the trailer has to steer in the right place and at the same speed as the forage harvester so that all lands inside the trailer, in windy weather this is very difficult!! Most of the time he will be looking over his shoulder to see what is happening in his trailer.
When the trailers are full they return to the farm. The grass is tipped into the yard to form a massive pile. To make this quicker the trailers have a special fastening system and can be opened and closed from the tractor cab. This means the drivers do not have to get out.
Then one of the workers picks up the grass with a big rake on the front of his machine.
He uses the big rake to carry the grass to where he wants it, so that he can shape the silage clamp.
To make sure the silage pickles into a nice feed for the cows, all the air has to be squashed out of the pile of grass by driving tractors over it. If there is any air left in the pile it will go mouldy instead of pickling. The cows do not like it when it is mouldy and it can even make them ill.
Once the air has been removed they are left with a smooth pile of grass. The drivers must be very careful as they could tip their tractors over if they build the slope too steep.
To make sure the air stays out, the pile is covered in plastic. Tyres are then placed on top of the plastic to stop it blowing away.
The finished silage clamp.
The fields where the grass was cut are left to grow again. More grass will be cut for the cows in July. The grass will be put on top of the this silage. This means the plastic and the tyres will have to be taken off - HARD WORK!!!