Self-feeding silage – the way forward for your farm?

Self-feeding silage saves labour, power and machinery costs while delivering a simple, sustainable way to get forage into cows by just moving an electric wire once a day. First developed in the 1950s, self-feed had a 1970s revival and today is increasingly being seen as the cost-effective winter feeding method for autumn block-calving herds.

As well as the obvious financial benefits, extra protein concentrate can be mixed in with grass during ensiling, points out business consultant Tony Evans from Andersons. “The only machinery you need to run self-feed is an 80hp tractor with a front-end loader, plus a scraper on the back. The setup also provides a great loafing area for cows bulling and heat detection”, he says.

The system has had an update for the 21^st century. Modern clamp construction has to allow for today’s larger herds but also changing environmental legislation. As well as the correct slope to prevent slurry running into the silage face, siting the face to avoid excess rain or sun, and ensuring full effluent drainage, self-feed clamps (whether new or retrofit) now have to consider ammonia emissions and rainwater harvesting.

Fortunately, updated electric fencing means that silage face wire is charged by battery or solar fencer, not mains, which makes it easier to encourage cows to eat, says Tony. “For it to be successful, it’s important to train youngstock onto a self-feed system as they grow. Make a grass silage face width 22.5 cm per cow (24-hour access). You can also fence off the silage pit floor area (with electric fence) as silage is eaten to minimise the scraping area.”

For more information to help you get started, AHDB has produced a series of five films to be released this year which take you through the basics of self-feeding silage. View the first video here Self-feeding silage: The business case - YouTube

Topics:

Grassland Management

Sectors:

Beef & Lamb Dairy

Tags:

grassland management Forage for Knowledge