With costs for baling and wrapping increasing, it is more important than ever to keep a close eye on silage bale quality to reduce wastage and maximise your annual forage yield, advises a leading crop packaging specialist.
"The quality of the netwrap job on the bale is often disregarded because the bale will immediately be covered up by the stretchfilm," warns Graham Robson (pictured here) of crop packaging specialists UAT. "Many operators believe that the coverage by the net is not that important as no one will see - but this could not be further from the truth."
"Those huge fluffy 'shoulders' on poorly-netted bales are great air-traps. So air is taken into the bale when it is being wrapped and enclosed in film, and spoils the delicate fermentation process. A process that should anaerobic - without air!"
"You just have to look over the hedge during May to July to see it happening, and the poor end result is all-too-obvious when the bales are opened in the winter or following spring. A well-shaped silage bale, fully covered in net to eliminate trapped air makes a very high quality bale of forage with minimal spoilage at a time when we should all be looking to maximise harvest yields," he advised.
For further information please contact Graham Robson, Technical Manager of UAT on 07710 609057 or email graham.robson@uat.co.uk
or contact Ahead Ltd on 01904 634040 mail@ahead-marketing.com
