How to Harvest Haylage Bales in Sustainable Agriculture

Sylwester Borowski,Edmund Dulcet,Jerzy Kaszkowiak

doi:10.3390/app112311508

Sylwester Borowski, Edmund Dulcet + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/app112311508

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Abstract

Storing silage in round bales (balage) is a commonly used method for preserving forage for use as stock fodder that has a higher nutritional content than hay. Baling at the optimum density is important for ensuring ideal fermentation conditions. In the manuscript, we present the research methodology and the results of the experiment. We did experiments over the density of haylage bales. We investigated the effect of the moisture content in the harvested material, the length of the cut material and the pressing pressure in the round baler. We used the Barenbrug BG-5 forage mix at different moisture content levels (69, 63, 56, 49, and 42%), that was either unchopped or chopped by the round baler’s cutter bars (312 and 183 mm length) and baled at three different pressing pressures (0.9, 1.4, and 1.8 MPa). The results showed that forage density in the bales reached the highest value at a moisture content of 56% and a pressing pressure of 1.8 MPa, with the forage chopped by the cutter bars.

Highlights

The terms silage and haylage are often confused and used interchangeably
An analysis of the tests results showed that for both the unchopped (Lm = 312 mm) and the chopped (Lm = 183 mm) material, the density of bales made at MC = 69% was lower than that of other moisture content levels (Figures 3–5: unchopped material; Figures 6–8: chopped material)
For the material being cut, the bale density was statistically different for the tylon (L.) Pers.), the results showed a moisture content range in which the maximum den-PP

Summary

Introduction

Silage is defined as “material produced by the controlled fermentation of a yield with a high moisture content” [1]. Haylage has been defined as wrapped or anaerobically stored feed containing >500 g dry matter per kg [2,3]. Storing silage in round bales (balage or haylage) is a commonly used method for preserving forage for use as stock fodder that has a higher nutritional content than hay. The density of plant material in bales formed with round balers is an important indicator of these machines’ operating quality. In the case of the balage itself, good density ensures advantageous conditions for fermentation [4,5,6]. Data presented in the literature indicate that the moisture content of the plant material has a big impact on the compacting process

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