As I was headed down our driveway the other day, just before cresting the hill to drive down the hill, I see a very large load traveling up in the opposite direction. I stop to wait (it's a one lane drive). The silage trucks are coming. This means silage delivery will begin the next morning. Approximately 1600 TONS of silage to be exact. It will take about 2 1/2 days or so for the delivery to be complete with 13 trucks, working non-stop in the daylight hours traveling to and from the silage fields. Many truckloads.
This delivery of silage occurs every May when the silage fields are ready to be cut. Silage is a mixture of fermented oats, rye grass and some other grasses and it is mixed in with grain by the tractor load to feed 250 cows and 200 heifers. Read more about what we feed our cows
HERE.
The silage is dumped onto the conveyor belt (the green platform you see) which then gets pushed into the plastic bags one truck load at a time. It takes about 3-4 minutes to unload one truck load.
The purpose of keeping silage in bags is to prevent air from getting in and causing it to spoil. The same as storing your own food in an airtight container. When all is finished, we end up with seven bags that vary in length from 100 feet to 250 feet long.
This is what it looks like close up.
Here is Bryce standing in an opening to one of the bags that is currently being used.
Every year the silage trucks pick away at the road (our driveway) leading up to our house. But this year with all the late, wet weather we've had, has left the ground extremely soft for May and is by far the worst year for wear and tear on our driveway. Not sure yet, what's going to happen with the driveway. Yikes!
Happy Tuesday!
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