Silage making on the farm

It has been a cold spring and only in the past few weeks has the temperature risen enough to make the grass grow. I am sure you have not cut the grass on your lawn much this May?

We cut the grass with a mower, row it up and then collect the grass using a forager (which chops the grass up) and spits it into trailer following along side.

The trailer then returns to the farm buildings and tips it up into a pile which is rolled over by tractor (the grass is compacted and removes air) and the telescopic handlers than pile the grass up and up, higher and higher until it makes a huge mountain. This is called a silage clamp or pit.

Once all the grass has been collected from the fields the clamp is then covered over with plastic sheet (keep air out and heat in) and pressure applied on top, with the use of old tyres.

The grass is left now to ferment and preserve itself for the winter. The sugar in the grasses make the fermented grass into silage which is a sweet pickled grass which cows love in the winter months, when food in the fields is limited.