Savings start in the field with Blaney Agri Swathers

June 26, 2013

Blaney Agri Solutions have added to their range the equipment farmers need to reduce the cost of feeding livestock. Given the huge expense that farmers have been faced with in recent months to find good quality forage and our unpredictable weather, they have approached Blaney Agri engineers to design a machine that addresses the problem of drying grass for better quality silage in short windows of good weather.

Producing high quality silage is now more important than ever given our recent prolonged wet summers. Considerable volumes of water are put into silos or bales when unwilted grass is ensiled. This encourages extensive fermentation which is difficult to control and hazardous, but effluent loss from silage basically equals digestible nutrient loss, meaning less liveweight gain. If you could see pound coins running out of your silo or bales you would be concerned and want to find a solution. So how can you make better silage ?

90% of all baled silage in Ireland is currently harvested by contractors, with little grass being ted. The farmer usually wants the grass left lying for it to dry and then needs it lifted before the next rain shower. But with contractors under increasing pressure to keep everyone happy and get grass baled and wrapped before it rains, this means it’s up to the farmer to make a difference and make the most of his silage crop.

Dry matter (DM) concentration increases with wilting / drying of the crop in the field to remove water.
Successful field wilting to approx 260g+ DM/kg depends on evaporating water from the mown crop by exposing as much undried grass as possible to solar radiation and wind. This all sounds simple but given our unpredictable weather simply spreading grass and raking it can mean more water is introduced to the sward. A solution is needed to maximise drying in all weather situations, whether wet, showery or dry and sunny.

Improve your silage dry matter content and forage quality with the Blaney Agri SwathAir swather.

The Blaney Agri SwathAir lifts the sward, turns it, repositions it and uniquely introduces air to the sward. Comments from our test group of farmers highlights the need to turn swards to dry the damp grass underneath, touching the ground, which has not benefited from the wilting process. An innovative “flick-out” rotor is also available which teases apart the longer grass leafs, creating an optimized sward structure for air circulation, enhancing the rate of drying.

By accelerating the centre of the sward, and separating the grass from its parallel mowed position to an alternate pattern introduces more gaps for improved wind drying and less damage caused by unforeseen rain compared to condition spreading. This patent pending design sets the SwathAir apart from other swathers and tedders on the market.

If you are fortunate enough to have large yields, the SwathAir will help the crop dry evenly to avoid wet and poorly wilted portions close to the ground. If you are lucky enough to be cutting silage in a heat wave, early use of the SwathAir can help to avoid excessive drying when the baler is not immediately available since material with dry matter content higher than 45% becomes increasingly difficult to compress and ferment.

Experience shows that consistently good silage results from attention to detail at all stages of silage making – in the field, ensiling and at feed out. Time invested in producing well preserved silage has been shown to pay handsome dividends throughout the winter reducing concentrate feed requirements by up to 2kg/hd/day.
Baled silage tedded with the SwathAir should result in 28% dm compared to 20% dm for untreated grass. This will result in 66% less bales and greatly reduce unnecessary wrapping costs per hectare. With livestock needing less of this silage due to its higher quality you willsave time in feeding too.

SwathAir lifts and turns the grass for maximum air flow through the silage for better drying,

The 2.5m SwathAir has is capable of working with up to three 10ft swards at once, to turn and reposition the sward. An adjustable angle head-stock moves the position of the sward on the ground after conditioning. This is extremely beneficial when working in wet ground conditions where it is necessary to transfer the grass/straw across onto drier ground. Swivel castors eliminate tyre scrub when turning for safe clean silage.

As always, the engineers at Blaney Agri are keen to hear your thoughts and suggestions. Blaney Agri are also interested in co-operating with farmers to develop new products through their Farmer Partnership Scheme. If you have an interest in having real input into product design, and developing a product that will suit you, your needs and your budget then speak to the Blaney Agri engineers to discuss this partnership scheme further.