North Central US | JayWalker - 6/28/2026 13:42
Good afternoon?
Would someone please give a layman's explanation of silage. I often read about it on Agtalk but know nothing about it. In my area I have never seen or heard of anyone putting up silage? I am just trying to broaden my knowledge base.
Thanks in advance
For silage you chop corn into a fine consistency like hay through a tub grinder. Then you pack it somehow so tight air can't get to it. It ferments similar to alcohol production, it gets hot, then cools off. Then you feed it.
We bag it and were very impressed at how well it kept in the bag. Basically 0 waste. I know others have kept bagged silage for a few years and it is still good.
For us by the Canadian border, we took a few feet off a bag in a day from October to May and never had any spoilage, we didn't reseal the bag at the end of each day either. It also didn't become frozen clumps.
The cows loved it, they went nuts over it. They would even pout when they didn't get it.
For us it was either 3 tons of grain or Alfalfa hay per acre or over 20 tons an acre of silage. In the end, it was more cost effective to do silage and so we've put even more in this year.
Find an old bagger and an old chopper and wagon, and you can be going for under 10k. |
Silage?
