That did look a great idea and better than all those tyres to be shifted all the time. Hope it works out well for you, I expect lots of farmers will be waiting to see the results of your trial.
Great blog Alan. We used to get potato slurry to cover the top of our silo. U had to fill the silo with the walls as vertical as u could and the top pretty level, then we would get 3 artic tanker loads equivalent to 60 ton pumped onto the top. It levelled itself provided great compaction and air tight cover, very little waste and no sheets plus u could feed the lot. Hope old Tom’s in good health.
I think everything is going well for Alan because of the long beard. Keep it growing Alan, by the time it hits your knees you’ll be a millionaire 😎 great video as always lads 👏 👏
Looks a super job. First one I’ve seen up close in detail. It’s going to be interesting to see the difference in the two pits come winter. Although there’s a few benefits shown up already (far less tyres, time saved in covering it) I’d like to see more of the rain water/effluent pipes if you could Alan. That’s a super job in theory. Is it as good in practice? The farm is shaping up nicely Alan. All that work during lockdown is starting to show up already. 👌🏻 Keep up the good work!👍🏻
@@roberthiggins6401 probably?! Still quicker but! 2 people cover it in their leisure. No one busted! No one destroyed with dirty stale water, muck and cut with rusty tyre wire.
Here's the plan Alan. Think a silage bagger, now a concrete or steel box structure instead of the bag, just use the "bagger" to fill the permanent structure. Now inside the structure have a moveable insert that seals to the inner walls, to this you bolt in either the " bagger" or a remover, the remover will have 2 partitions, on the open side it will have a set of doors, behind the doors is several feet of space with an elevator on the floor followed by a second set of doors and behind those are a verticals set of auger/beater bars could even make them chain like a side slinger spreader which tease out and remove the silage into the partition with the elevator floor. So removal procedure is as follows. The open side doors are closed, the inner doors are opened, the removal device teases the grass out distributing it onto the elevator, the inner doors are closed, outer doors opened and elevator distributes the grass to loader bucket or onto the floor for removal. This makes a horizontal oxygen limiting silo, like the big harvestore towers but easier to construct and maintain.
When he said about something to put on the top to seal it some people near me uses citrus pulp to cover there silo pits basically the get a arctic load of ugh then spread it over with loadall bucket and tbh it works looks black but cattle love it
Complete waste of time. We tried salt one year and we had waste on top of the pit. First time in over 10yrs we had waste on top of the pit. Never again. Turns out after speaking to several people that salt will force silage to go off quicker creating a seal of waste protecting the silage beneath. Just another antique idea.
@@mikeysky8917 the salt works great on out pits as salt stops silage from molding and waisting. We do more cuts with shorter grass as we are a dairy farm don’t know if that changes anything
@@mikeysky8917 there’s no way that you have no mould on any of your pits. We tested it out on 1st cut with salt and second cut with salt and the difference was incredible which proves that salt does help Silage to ferment better and not have as much mould
@@finlaybaillie9984 We don’t have any waste. We put plastic up the side of the walls and and back wall. We roll the pit especially the sides at the same time the grass is going in. We fold the side/back plastic over the pit first then we put two covers on top and cover every inch with car tyres. No air gets in. Weight is key. We were asked to experiment with one of our pits by putting that green/windbreaker type cover over the pit and cover part of the side and the joints with tyres. We did it and it saved a lot of time but that pit won’t be open till next year for the results.
Wide low dumpy bags with sand put on top as you roll the sheet, so you're not running on the sheet, that would work like putting bales on an inside clamp. So long as the bags are made strong enough to be used year in year out. 17.10.20 Anyone who makes this I expect a small commission.
That's a really good idea, especially instead of having to go through the pain of putting the tyres on the pitt! I just wonder how expensive it would be?🤔
No one enjoys the tyre throwing Anthony! I'm sure the guys at Silage Safe would be happy to give you a rough price as it will depend on the dimensions etc of your specific pit.
Lovely job lads and lass i carnt belleve the stickers are stil on the tyers of the green machine .and yep that girl was a hard working lass ok be safe out there hi from brit man in austrailia
Depends on how big the pit is, how many people you have to help, what way you are loading the tires like if you have to load by hand or can just drive straight into them, but generally it takes us 2 hours to do
If shes not blue explained it perfectly. There are lots of variables when it comes to covering a pit and everyone has their own view on how it should be sheeted, how many tyres are needed etc.
All depends how much you value silage quality, If you were able to cut meal bills as a result of better quality silage it might not be too expensive in the long run! :)
@@farmflix farmers having been making quality silage for years without these over priced gimmicks how many ton of meal would u need to be not buying to justify the cost and whats the lifespan when a shear grab hits it 😀
You gotta love vids with Alan so real really shows how hard farming can be you guys rock. Keep up the good work 👍
Just trying to show it as it is Luke, glad you are enjoying the content!
look forward to see the silage pit in the winter after te trial off the new silage pit cover
We too are excited to see how the pits compare!
That did look a great idea and better than all those tyres to be shifted all the time. Hope it works out well for you, I expect lots of farmers will be waiting to see the results of your trial.
Thanks Mags!
Great video lads, love the honesty and the banter
Just trying to show things how they are! Glad you are enjoying the videos John
Great blog Alan. We used to get potato slurry to cover the top of our silo. U had to fill the silo with the walls as vertical as u could and the top pretty level, then we would get 3 artic tanker loads equivalent to 60 ton pumped onto the top. It levelled itself provided great compaction and air tight cover, very little waste and no sheets plus u could feed the lot. Hope old Tom’s in good health.
Thanks Oli, how did the cows like the potato waste? Toms keeping good!
@@farmflix ye they seemed to like it alright, did well on it really.
Nice one Al , good to see a smile on your face 👍🏼
He certainly was happy at only having to throw half the tyres thats for sure! 😂
I think everything is going well for Alan because of the long beard. Keep it growing Alan, by the time it hits your knees you’ll be a millionaire 😎 great video as always lads 👏 👏
The beard must catch all the positivity! 😂
Looks a super job. First one I’ve seen up close in detail. It’s going to be interesting to see the difference in the two pits come winter. Although there’s a few benefits shown up already (far less tyres, time saved in covering it)
I’d like to see more of the rain water/effluent pipes if you could Alan. That’s a super job in theory. Is it as good in practice?
The farm is shaping up nicely Alan. All that work during lockdown is starting to show up already. 👌🏻 Keep up the good work!👍🏻
Time wise, I bet there wasn't much in it.
@@roberthiggins6401 probably?! Still quicker but! 2 people cover it in their leisure. No one busted! No one destroyed with dirty stale water, muck and cut with rusty tyre wire.
Alan has been hard at work this summer improving his farm!
I looked at this 2 years ago, was very interesting in it until the price came, still to this day I still wish we had gone with it. Top job 👍👍
You'l know for again Gavin ;) Alan is really happy with it so far! Hard to make these decisions when there's money involved!
@@farmflix definitely, don’t think Alan will regret the investment at all.
Hey Alan, great job with the silo! Silage should be great quality! Watch out for that man on the Deere! 🤣🤣🚜
Thanks Gordon!
Good video look forward to see what u think of it when u open her up
Thanks, will be interesting to see how the two pits compare having been put in at the same time and in the same conditions.
Here's the plan Alan. Think a silage bagger, now a concrete or steel box structure instead of the bag, just use the "bagger" to fill the permanent structure.
Now inside the structure have a moveable insert that seals to the inner walls, to this you bolt in either the " bagger" or a remover, the remover will have 2 partitions, on the open side it will have a set of doors, behind the doors is several feet of space with an elevator on the floor followed by a second set of doors and behind those are a verticals set of auger/beater bars could even make them chain like a side slinger spreader which tease out and remove the silage into the partition with the elevator floor.
So removal procedure is as follows. The open side doors are closed, the inner doors are opened, the removal device teases the grass out distributing it onto the elevator, the inner doors are closed, outer doors opened and elevator distributes the grass to loader bucket or onto the floor for removal.
This makes a horizontal oxygen limiting silo, like the big harvestore towers but easier to construct and maintain.
You've definitely thought about this Adam! Get a prototype made and throw it down ;)
@@farmflix naw naw I give you my blessing to build it. Sure just sell a few hundred t-shirts, you'll get it built in no time.
That look a good jod to be fare can’t wait to see it open
It definitely saves the back and shoulders 😂
The film u put down first is a great jod same as the fusion plus baler
Nice vid there john and alan
Glad you enjoyed it Reegan!
When he said about something to put on the top to seal it some people near me uses citrus pulp to cover there silo pits basically the get a arctic load of ugh then spread it over with loadall bucket and tbh it works looks black but cattle love it
That sounds like a brilliant idea, would just depend on the availability of the citrus pulp wherever you are I suppose!
How are the tires doing on the loader
You'd nearly think it was a different machine! Climb the pit no bother now, no need to telescope the grass up the pit 😂
We put a lair of salt on the top of our pit and more on the sides before we hap it and it really reduces the amount of waist. Gd vid Alan
Complete waste of time. We tried salt one year and we had waste on top of the pit. First time in over 10yrs we had waste on top of the pit. Never again. Turns out after speaking to several people that salt will force silage to go off quicker creating a seal of waste protecting the silage beneath. Just another antique idea.
@@mikeysky8917 the salt works great on out pits as salt stops silage from molding and waisting. We do more cuts with shorter grass as we are a dairy farm don’t know if that changes anything
@@finlaybaillie9984 We are Dairy with pits 80ft wide. Even with short or long grass, you shouldn’t need to use salt if your pit is covered correctly.
@@mikeysky8917 there’s no way that you have no mould on any of your pits. We tested it out on 1st cut with salt and second cut with salt and the difference was incredible which proves that salt does help Silage to ferment better and not have as much mould
@@finlaybaillie9984 We don’t have any waste. We put plastic up the side of the walls and and back wall. We roll the pit especially the sides at the same time the grass is going in. We fold the side/back plastic over the pit first then we put two covers on top and cover every inch with car tyres. No air gets in. Weight is key.
We were asked to experiment with one of our pits by putting that green/windbreaker type cover over the pit and cover part of the side and the joints with tyres. We did it and it saved a lot of time but that pit won’t be open till next year for the results.
Heard once that they used to put a layer of lime over the pit. Kept a good seal and then went and got spread on the fields with the dung
Haven't heard of that being done, but any interesting concept!
When is the episode of the Fendt 936s and kane trailers at silage in N.I. coming?
Should be the end of next month AgriFan keep an eye out ;)
Wide low dumpy bags with sand put on top as you roll the sheet, so you're not running on the sheet, that would work like putting bales on an inside clamp. So long as the bags are made strong enough to be used year in year out.
17.10.20
Anyone who makes this I expect a small commission.
A good idea Robert, the royalty cheques will be flying in soon! 😂
That's a really good idea, especially instead of having to go through the pain of putting the tyres on the pitt! I just wonder how expensive it would be?🤔
No one enjoys the tyre throwing Anthony! I'm sure the guys at Silage Safe would be happy to give you a rough price as it will depend on the dimensions etc of your specific pit.
Lovely job lads and lass i carnt belleve the stickers are stil on the tyers of the green machine .and yep that girl was a hard working lass ok be safe out there hi from brit man in austrailia
Thanks Lee, glad you are enjoying the videos
@@farmflix yes they are realy good vids thanks .ok be safe catch you on the next 1
How many tyres do you use and how big is your pit?
You’ve done summat right somewhere Alan! Starting to wonder if your filming on the right farm 😉. Be interesting experiment between the 2 clamps
Thanks Casto, yes we are looking forward to the results!
How long does it take to put a normal silo cover on usually
The cover takes about 30mins I’d say, but it would probably take 2 hours to cover with tires, because that’s the time consuming bit
Depends on how big the pit is, how many people you have to help, what way you are loading the tires like if you have to load by hand or can just drive straight into them, but generally it takes us 2 hours to do
If shes not blue explained it perfectly. There are lots of variables when it comes to covering a pit and everyone has their own view on how it should be sheeted, how many tyres are needed etc.
Thanks
Now that's happy big man. Lol. 👏👍
Good to see a smile on his face, and rightfully so some great silage in the pit and hay in the shed!
Love the video
Glad you enjoyed it Jack!
Your farm very nice good job sir what your country name
How many cows dose Alan have
If you get the chopper driver to put all grass in trailer rather than blow it over top pit will be much fuller.
Paul loves the big loads that for sure!
Did yous beat the ban
In England theres no slurry ban so I assumed there would be no ban in northern Ireland?
If shes not blue she'll not do aye there is no spreading from the end of October till the mid January
The life of putting to silo cover on lol 😂
The less glamorous side of silage making Matthew 😂
I go for the early cut last few years saving a lot on meal cause waste silage is like throwing money out the window
Hi their Patsy, I saw your comment, wondered and couldn't help but ask out of curiosity is it all bales you have or do you have pitt silage as well?
@@anthonyagri used be pit but bales now
@@patrick0connell772 Ok, was it Dave Quirke who did the silage for you?
@@anthonyagri harttnett does first cause I use film instead of net and Dave does second
@@patrick0connell772 Ah ok, nice.
Its a very expensive cover though
All depends how much you value silage quality, If you were able to cut meal bills as a result of better quality silage it might not be too expensive in the long run! :)
@@farmflix farmers having been making quality silage for years without these over priced gimmicks how many ton of meal would u need to be not buying to justify the cost and whats the lifespan when a shear grab hits it 😀
That poor bugger fork the edge of the silage pit
what do you mean when you say the brackets are less british than you thought lol
He said the “brackets are less brutish” lol
@@Daveynic2 ah right haha, I was scratching my head lol
Davey hit the nail on the head "Brute'ish" 💪
Good
Thanks!
Lime
who’s the woman
I like your thinking Odhran . Lol
The lady was part of the Silage Safe team who set up the cover system.
Your biggest loss is in your smallest area
She is some woman. I'm in love.
Who's the blonde1