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Manitoba | My silage bag experiments this year are not going well. This latest challenge is feeding out of them. Both the guys I have feeding have told me if I ever bag feed again they will quit. Seems no matter what we use / skid steer, wheel loader, bucket grapple, nothing works well and we end up taking all kind of time doing it and making a mess at the same time. it's a little better now that things have froze up (their on gravel) but not a lot better/still slow. for those with lots of experieince, how do you manage this issue and what works well or at least best.
on our piles we use a facer and just load out with a skid steer and bucket. works fine there but the bags are challenging us.
edit: should have mentioned it's haylage and a 10 ft bag. problem is they can't get a bucket full in a timely fashion and make a huge mess in the process. we tried the facer on the bag and that loosens it fine but only enough for a bucket or 2 before the facer is finished for that cut. on a pile the facer takes 6" all across the face so we have enough for the days loads, (8 a day or so) so we can hook it up once and it's done for the day. using it on the bag you'd have to use it 2 times per load as it just can't go deep without burying itself. all my corn silage is in piles.
trying to resurect an old manure grapple to see if it helps. I'm sure it's possible to do if your very good on the skidsteer but my feeders are not that person. I've got to find a way to make it easier, if it's not easy it's not going to happen regardless of whether it's possible or not.
Edited by Oakwood 11/23/2012 18:23
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S.E. MN | What size bag ? What feed ? What is the issue? When I load skid steer I proceed toward the feed with the bucket in completely dumped position ( this allows me to see the plastic so I don't rip it). Just as the bucket touches the feed then I roll it back and lift as I move forward. This method seems to not fracture the feed beyond the daily usage. A little tougher in haylage. As for the corner of the bag, when i am done for the day, I take my foot and kick it out and up to the feed edge,this works best here, but I'm only removing up to 1500 pounds from an 8 foot bag.
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mid minnesota | Hope more post about this because I am too on a learning curve feeding out of an 8 foot bag. So far what I do is cut the bag back as to see what you are doing, then go side to side and clean that up then hit the middle for a full bucket Still learning only been doing this since sept 7 this year |
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michigan | ah yes bags, we also struggle. You have to be good on the skid steer, dont spin the wheels much, and use the tilt break force over any thing else to break it free. Corn silage is by far easier. Haylage on dirt, forget about it...if we tear plastic on the bottom, we just cut into the side of the bag ahead of the tear, good luck |
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IN | and a guy on a scoop shovel throwing the sides in. Oh boy... |
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S.C. Wisconsin | We use one of these when we use a skidloader.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=... |
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| I do it the same as you, pauperspassion. We are feeding silage out of 9' bags and when using the skidloader I just do one side and then the other. I don't worry about the middle. Take care of the sides and the middle will take care of itself. On the haylage bags using a backhoe or 6210 JD with a loader, it is much harder. On those I take buckets out of the middle(starting with the bucket tipped down where I can see the edge) or just a little to the side and as often as needed get out and dress up the edges. I usually just pick up the plastic and kind of flip it like you would the sheets on your bed and keep it worked in that way. I have also figured out NOT to cut the plastic back too far on haylage. If you do and you get off center that side blows out and then you are screwed. Haylage is a pain but we only use 3-4 buckets a day.
Another technique I have seen is to take the bucket and loosen the feed from the top down so you have a pile of loose feed to load out of. I prefer my technique but you might try loosening the feed and then loading in the manner I described until you get a feel for it. I have enough practice I can have maybe 2-3 scoop shovels of loose silage and the rest is a vertical wall of silage just as the bagger packed it about 80% of the time.
Another tip is to keep the plastic on the bottom long enough that your tires on on it. If you have a lot of wind you can put a couple rocks or something on to keep it back that far without the wind folding it up(or if you aren't carefull about keeping the silage pushed up you'll have 2" of silage on it to keep it down). With your tires on it when you are pushing to load the silage "should" slide on the bag and you can get most of it in corn silage and a lot of it in haylage.
I hope this helps.
MIke |
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southern saskatchewan | Try a set of teeth on the front of the bucket to help you loosen and fill it. |
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| I just drive straight in and get a bucket load. I never have any trouble. Mine is on dirt with an 8ft bag, corn silage. Every now and then i scrape the ground to clean up any extra. Cows eat it all. |
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Adelaide Hills, South Australia | We use a Quicke Multibenne on a backhoe loader. Its easy to make a big mess especially if it gets wet. We try to grab a full load and then pull it away and not loosen what we dont pick up. When we first started we placed big square hay bales on the sides before cutting the bag, to make like a bunker and then mooved them along the bag as we used it. The multibenne means not changing loader attachments to load the mixer, a must have for us!
Multibenne: www.quicke.nu/Intl/Dimension/Implements.ept?tab=2746 |
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Broome County NY | loosen it with pallet forks on your skid steer
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W IOWA | If using a skidloader I've found that using abale spear or forks on wet haylage works well.
Having a powertach helps with switching back and forth.
As was said earlier tip the bu cket down to see the botttom.
keep the plastic trimed at 45 degree angle. |
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Waverly MN | An Easyrake facer works great to loosen the feed up to make it easy to scoop. Highly recommend. |
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Iowa | i use a skid steer. never have problems. Use the hydraulic power not wheel power to get the feed out. I use about 20 bags a year and I never have had the need for a shovel . |
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NC Indiana | Guess I don't know what I'm missing. We use a 580SE or an 1105 MF w/ duals on a 9' bag just fine. |
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New Brunswick | I know someone who really likes there versa bucket with bags. It's made by a bagger company. It seems to me it would work well with the corners.
http://www.versacorporation.com/VersaBucketGallery.htm |
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SW Ohio | Bro did most of the feeding so I have a hard time remembering, but we had 5-7 nine foot bags lined up real close together for haylage(long cut too) and ten corn silage, all on dirt. Used a 2240 two wheel drive with a 48 loader and smooth bucket. Tried to leave bottom intact for front wheels to run on but trimmed off where back wheels were. Sometimes raked down from top to loosen, sometimes just skimmed bottom and lifted up, center first, then sides, still had a little hand/foot work every day, and must trim back plastic every time. Corn was a lot easier.
Take a wire hog panel and bend into a circle, throw the plastic in and burn once a week. |
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eastern ontario | the one thing I don't think was mentioned yet that I do is leave the plastic attached on the bottom for about 15 to 20 ft. This helps by allowing the tractors front tires to be on the plastic when you run the bucket along the bottom the plastic is less likly to get pushed up into the feed. It also helps keep the feed clean if you knock some down . |
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Ohio | Haylage has always been a pita to get out of a bag and it always will be. Like others have said keep the sides clean and the middle will clean itself. Don't spin your tires if using a skidloader. Also remember that you do not have to get a full bucket either. Just make more trips to the mixer. Keep a scoop shovel by the bag to clean the sides of the bag. |
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Thunder Bay, Ontario, Great White North | I've been fighting with this same issue for a while. I switched 100% to bags last year and like the system but feed out is something I don't have fully solved yet. One employee does an ok job with a smooth bucket on a farm loader, little spillage and basically no shovelling. The other guy who does most of the feeding was making a mess of the bags until he started using the pallet forks on the skidsteer to loosen things up before scooping up with the loader. It works ok but not ideal because we are now starting 3 machines just to feed everyday and it is still pretty slow. Using the skidsteer to load is challenging because the plastic gets tore up, and when the plastic has snow on it the skidsteer is almost useless. My employees would rather use the 6410 to load with but it's getting tired and the work has been hard on the loader. My latest plan is to use a wheel loader and a versa - style clam bucket and sell the big skidsteer, and park the loader tractor and just use it for jobs for which it is designed. Most loaders on farm tractors don't stand up to much abuse, thus I've been shopping for some better iron. All that being said, the base under the bags makes as much difference as anything when feeding. I have a few bags on pavement, it isn't difficult to keep things neat. The bags on a temporary pad that is basically mud and rocks I don't think there is any way to load them without a bunch of mess and hand labor. I wouldn't give up the bags on this farm. The benefits of harvest efficiency and feed quality outweigh the feeding trouble and waste 'here'. |
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Silage Bag users, how do you load feed out of bag?
