tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35188043.post8865426598816188118..comments2023-11-07T06:51:41.301-06:00Comments on The Beginning Farmer: Quality Pasture :: Chapter 9 Book ReportEthan Bookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01333115493519268802noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35188043.post-81875724610823637592007-11-15T16:50:00.000-06:002007-11-15T16:50:00.000-06:00Ethan:Me and my folks have experience with putting...Ethan:<BR/><BR/>Me and my folks have experience with putting up silage, though we do it with our own machinery. We silage barley when it's at the milk stage, and chop it up and store it in a silage-pit for a few months. We feed it to stocker steers over the winter, as it gives them a bit of a boost to keep their energy levels up when it's bitterly cold. The stockers gain well on our home-grown silage, plus hay.<BR/><BR/>A lot of folks around where we live (North central Alberta) do that, and they also put up hay. Baleage (what you described as silage in a bale) isn't all that common up here, from what I know, but it can be done.<BR/><BR/>I don't understand why Nation puts baled hay down, but maybe it's because of the higher nutrient content found in silage than hay, and the finickyness of having the hay to get dry enough (can get ruined if rained on). From where you are, Ethan, I can see why silage is easiest to go by, with the amount of moisture it'd be pure luck of the draw to get a good few days of drying weather. Up here, our big round bales are stored outside all the time, though there are a few folks that'll store round bales inside just to keep the quality if they don't get the bales fed within the year.<BR/><BR/>KarinAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35188043.post-2338304725099694552007-09-25T20:40:00.000-05:002007-09-25T20:40:00.000-05:00Right now we are able to bale our own small square...Right now we are able to bale our own small squares and able to store them inside, but they are in storage all over the county! Well, not quite all over, but some are stored on the home place, some on a part of the farm that is 6 miles away, and some in an Amishman's shed! We are hoping to have some of our own storage next year. <BR/><BR/>Do you feel like you save money buy contracting your baling? Because you don't have to own the baler, repair breakdowns, and spend the time baling? It seems like it would make sense to me if it all penciled out right.Ethan Bookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01333115493519268802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35188043.post-44842150251824103122007-09-25T16:36:00.000-05:002007-09-25T16:36:00.000-05:00We haven't tried silage, though we've considered p...We haven't tried silage, though we've considered purchasing it. But for hay we hire the cutting, Matt rakes it himself, and then we hire it baled into large round bales. We don't have room to store all of our hay inside. In the past we've stacked & tarped it. Now our baler guy netwraps it for us.sugarcreekfarmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09655268212094370061noreply@blogger.com