Don’t Gamble WithYour Forage
Autumn 2013 Newsletter
With GUARANTEED Prolonged Storage Stability*Why Use Anything Else
T : 01458 252281
SafesilTM
Food-grade preservative for grass,
wholecrop, legume and maize silage
• Eradicate silage spoilage organisms
• Maximise nutrient retention
• Guarantee* prolonged storage stability
*Journal of Dairy Science 94:824-831
Sheeting and sealing the clamp is rarely themost popular job on the farm, and handlingmultiple sheets on windy autumn days is noteasy at the best of times. Now, the time takento do this job can be reduced by 50% by usingO2 Barrier 2in1, the single sheet thattransforms into two on the clamp. Providingup to 10 times greater barrier to oxygenpenetration than conventional polyethylenesilage sheeting O2 Barrier will eliminate therisk of top and shoulder waste. Weighteddown with ClampTiles and/or ClampNet,which offer a long-term replacement to muckyold tyres, the chore of sealing the clampefficiently can almost be a pleasure!
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Last year’s long wet summer and the longcold spring of 2013 saw conserved foragestocks at their lowest for many years, and,although the hot dry spell in the latter halfof June and through July was welcome inmany respects, it did little to help improvegrass growth. However, maize crops lookreally good in most areas, and if you’d hadthe time to spare you’d probably have beenable to see it growing during those longJuly days.
So, the potential is there for some goodquality forage to help get stocks back up towhere they need to be in order to be ready
to cope with what the winter might have instore for us. Maize silage is great forage tohave in any ruminant ration, providingquality starch and useful fibre levels, as longas it is harvested at the correct stage andproperly ensiled. Fermentation is never aproblem because the low buffering capacityof the crop and relatively high DM mean thatlactic acid bacteria can lower the pH of theforage very quickly.
However, this ease of fermentation is adouble-edged sword because it also makesthe silage very prone to aerobic instabilitycaused by the yeasts and moulds thatare present on the crop at harvest. Thisfrequently results in waste on the top andshoulders of the clamp, and heating silageduring feedout. This in turn can lead to theother ingredients that the silage is mixed with‘going off’ faster than stock can eat theration, resulting in reduced intakes and pooranimal performance.
In the last few years farmers the length andbreadth of the UK have found that some verycost-effective solutions to these potentiallyexpensive losses are available.
In order to remove the risk of fermentationand instability losses and ensure that thevaluable DM you harvest ends up where it’ssupposed to be – in your animals, using aproven silage preservative called Safesil is thelong-awaited solution. Applied correctlySafesil guarantees prolonged storage stabilityand maximum DM retention, so if you wantto ensure as much of the maize crop that youharvest is preserved to see your stock throughthe year contact Kelvin Cave Ltd as soonas possible.
The Sales Team
Kelvin Cave - Managing [email protected] • 07977 252661
Ian Hall - Sales [email protected] • 07977 252663
Andy Strzelecki - Technical [email protected] • 07977 252664
Michael CarpenterNorthern Area Sales [email protected] • 07817 977701
Bryn ThomasNorth Wales Area Sales [email protected] • 07739 323322
David WarnerSouthern Area Sales [email protected] • 07814 934481
Rachel WebberCornwall and West Devon Area Sales [email protected] • 07801 200 546
Guy HodgsonScotland Area Sales [email protected] • 07791 577 067
Westmorland County Show12th SeptemberLane Farm, Crooklands, Kendal,Cumbria, LA7 7NH
South West Dairy Event2nd OctoberBath & West Showground,Shepton Mallet, BA4 6QN
Borderway Agri Expo1st NovemberBorderway Mart, Rosehill Industrial Estate,Carlisle, CA1 2RS
AgriScot20th NovemberRoyal Highland Centre, Ingliston, Edinburgh EH28 8NB
Royal Highland Winter Fair27th NovemberRoyal Highland Centre, Ingliston, Edinburgh, EH28 8NB
Royal Welsh Winter Fair2nd and 3rd DecemberRoyal Welsh Showground, LlanelweddBuilth Wells, Powys, LD2 3SY
Diary D
ates
2013
Meet the team at the following shows. We’ll be pleased to see you!
Don’t Lose Out– Stop Expensive Losses From Your Clamps
Within 6 months of starting usingDigest-it® a fuel saving of 66% duringstirring and pumping has been recordedon farm. Treatment results in atransformation from crusty and inefficientwaste to a bubbling valuable liquidfertiliser, much higher in nutrients.
Increases of up to 39% have been recordedin key nutrients, including Nitrogen,Potassium, Phosphorus, Magnesium andSulphur. This is equivalent to approximately9 tonnes of artificial fertilizer, and hasresulted in a saving of over £2,000 on an80ha farm.
What are the main issues?
One of the key problem areas in successfuldairy and pig farming is the management ofslurry. Common problems experienced bymany farmers include thick surfacecrust preventing rainwater penetration,sediments at the bottom of the tank orlagoon and high ammonia levels causing anunpleasant odour. All of this contributes tocreating thick slurry that is difficult, costlyand time-consuming to stir and pump.
What can we do to help eradicatethese issues?
Extensive on-farm trials have shown thatapplying Digest-it® to the slurry will reducecrusting, break-down sludge and increase itsoverall fertilizer value.
Digest-it® is an innovative fermented cultureproduct that is at the cutting edge ofenvironmental standards. It contains a richsource of vitamins, minerals, proteins,
enzymes, amino acids, carbohydrates anddormant organisms that capture theammonia in the slurry and convert it intoorganic, plant-available nitrogen while, at thesame time releasing potash and phosphatesfrom the solid fractions. In effect, Digest-it®
provides a rich food source for aerobicmicrobes in the lagoon as well as introducingdormant aerobic bacteria species, which‘wake up’ on coming into contact with slurryto support the digestion process.
How does it help?
Digest-it® creates and maintains a balancedmicrobial environment, making slurry storesand lagoons workable and efficient.The capture of ammonia and its conversioninto organic nitrogen results in asignificant reduction in smell. By effectively‘composting’ the slurry in the store there is abig reduction in the Biological OxygenDemand (BOD) in the soil, resulting inhealthier soil microorganisms and moreefficient nutrient utilisation.
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E : [email protected] www.kelvincave.comT : 01458 252281
Andy StrzeleckiTechnical Director
Biological Slurry Digester forbetter soils, crops and stock
•Reduces fertiliser costs
•Gets your slurry tank or lagoon working
•Stimulates aerobic microbial activity
•Converts solids into plant available
liquid nutrients
•Digested slurry improves soil fertility
UK Dairy Farm 2009/10Winter Trials...Digest-it® was tested on 15 UK Dairy Farms.
Average results from this extensive testing showed...
Digest-it® increased slurry fertiliser value- Nitrogen +33%- Phosphorus +28%- Potassium +34%Financial Value+ £52.32/ha
Cost-effective Ratio3:1 £ return
As contractors work towards improving efficiencies both forthemselves and their clients, slurry management is becomingmore important.
As contractors work towards improving efficiencies both forthemselves and their clients, slurry management is becomingmore important.
Functioning slurry lagoonNon-functioning slurry lagoon
SafesilTM
• The best silage preservative
for nutrient retention
• The best for guaranteed*
prolonged storage stability
• The best for eradicating silage
spoilage organisms
• The best return on
your investment*Journal of Dairy Science 94:824-831
Saucy Sally’srecipe for the best silage
With a year-round average of 29litres/cow/day from his 300 cows, John Mannof Crooklands Farm, Blencogo, Cumbria, takesthe production of quality forage seriously,and has been using ClampFilm and Safesil tominimise wastage and losses ever since theybecame available in the UK. When he read thePress reports about the SilaPactor from KelvinCave Ltd. he realised that the company hadfound yet another ‘piece of the jigsaw’ tohelp him make top quality silage consistently.John knew that increasing the compactiondensity of his grass and maize silage wouldresult in even lower DM losses from hisclamps, and better utilisation of clamp space.
John struck a deal with Michael Carpenter,Kelvin Cave’s North of England sales manager,and a SilaPactor was delivered to his farmin time to consolidate 3rd cut grass andmaize silage.
John gets his local contractor, Horsley’s, toprovide a self-propelled forager and trailers,but likes to mow, ted and fill the clamp withhis own equipment. He takes personalresponsibility for clamp filling, using aJD 125hp tractor with front-mounted buckrake, and it was to this unit that the SilaPactorwas added.
“Operating the buck rake and the 4 tonne,3 metre wide SilaPactor keeps my hands busyat the controls,” says John, “but the ability ofthe implement to consolidate the silage tightto the clamp walls, eliminating air pockets andincreasing silage density, provides a solid,stable base to work on because it compacts sowell across the full width, I’m saving fuelas well.”
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SilaPactor Increased Compaction Means Better Maize Silage with Lower DM Losses - John Mann
The analysis of both the 3rd cut and the maizeshowed that John had made a wiseinvestment, and this trend has continued withbetter silage quality and no waste.
Neighbouring farmers have seen theimprovements that the SilaPactor has made onJohn’s farm. “You can see the quality at theclamp face,” comments John, “we’ve had noclamp ‘shrinkage’ and everyone notices howcleanly the shear-grab cuts the well-compactedsilage. As a result they’ve been keen to hire itto use on their own silage, which means theimplement is getting plenty of use. I am certainthat a tight clamp equals quality forage, whichmeans happy, productive cows.”
The SilaPactor is yet another of John’s successstories using products from Kelvin Cave Ltd. Hisfather started using crimped grain treated withCrimpstore 15 years ago and firmly believesthere is nothing to beat it. Now, with his silagetreated with Safesil, compacted with theSilaPactor and sealed with ClampFilm hisresults speak for themselves
Brothers Colin, James and Andrew Singletonrun their 220 cow pedigree Holstein herd andfollowers at White Hill Farm, Goosnargh,Lancashire. The all grass farm produces 3 to 4cuts of high quality silage each year, whichthey harvest with their own self-propelledforage harvester. Aiming for a DM of 28%they ensile around 3,000 tonnes of silage,equivalent to approximately 840 tonnesof DM.
Last year’s wet summer, and the fact that anew building now allows them to house alltheir replacement heifers through the winterinstead of sending them off-farm, put severepressure on forage stocks. As a result they hadto buy 700 tonnes of silage to meet theirneeds. At a true cost of around £40 per tonne(including transport and time) this is anexpense they aim to avoid in future.
The brothers are well aware of soilcompaction problems on their land, and thatthis can cause significant reductions in grassDM yields. They have used a Shakaerator to
help alleviate the problem in the past, but,although it did a good job in the long term,they found that its slow work-rate and the factthat it left the ground very uneven, broughtstones to the surface and checked grassgrowth during dry conditions did not suittheir farm.
When Michael Carpenter, Area Sales Managerfor Kelvin Cave in the North of England,explained what the AerWorx aerator could do(high work-rates (6-8 acres per hour) and usingit between silage cuts with minimal soildisturbance), all three brothers were keen togive it a trial and measure the results.
First, Colin took Michael to a field which headmitted was a bit of an embarrassment.Reseeded in poor conditions two years agothere was very little grass growth and slurryresidues were visible on the surface. Diggingholes with a spade revealed a classic shallow‘pan’ with horizontal cracking, no worms andvery little grass root growth deeper than threeinches. The soil had a ‘stale’ smell and wasclearly not coming ‘up-to-scratch’. Keen tofind a solution, Colin agreed to trial theAerWorx immediately after first cut silage was
AerWorx Measures Up To Expectations - Colin Singleton
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harvested. They agreed to treat half the fieldand recruit independent local forage and soilspecialist James Bretherton of Agscope tomeasure subsequent grass growth using aplate meter.
Initial measurements were taken straight afterthe AerWorx treatment and again after 17days. Even after this short length of time theplate meter showed an increase in grass DMyield of 10% on the treated area compared tothe untreated. The measurement wasrepeated 3 weeks after second cut silage hadbeen taken off and a 12% increase in yieldwas recorded.
At this point more holes were dug and soilstructure had improved dramatically. The soilwas crumblier than before, with four or fiveworms in each spadeful and had a healthier,less sour smell, indicating an increase ofbeneficial aerobic soil microorganisms.
Acknowledging that most of their fields willhave a compaction problem to a greater orlesser degree, the brothers realised that evenif they achieved a 5% increase in DM yieldacross all cuts this could reduce the cost of
buying in extra silage by at least £6,000per year!
“What we like most about the AerWorx,” saysAndrew Singleton, “is the fast work-rate andease of operation. We can hitch up and do afew fields between milkings, or get one of ourcasual tractor drivers on the job if we don’thave time. I was surprised that we saw nocheck in grass growth even during the dryweather.”
“I’m pleased with the lack of soil-surfacedisturbance,” adds his brother James. “I wasconcerned that we would see soil and stoneson the surface, which could compromise silagequality if they got picked up by the forager.My fears were groundless!”
The brothers have invested in a 30” trailedAerWorx which they plan to hire out when notin use at White Hill Farm. They also expect toget better slurry utilization and may even beable to extend their grazing season by acouple of weeks due to the bettergrass growth.
Before After
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Crimpstore and Propcorn NC User Friendly and Effective Grain Preservation - George Stirling
Scottish farmer, George Stirling, farms 625acres, lambing 200 ewes, fattening 400+cattle and growing 165 acres of cereals andoperates a thriving farm-contracting businesscrimping and rolling grain and pulses forfarms in the Anstrather to Stirling.
Dry rolled grain used to be the norm forfeeding cattle, but George’s father introducedhim to the benefits of feeding PropcornNC-treated grain. George now feeds his stockmoist Propcorn NC-treated and rolledhomegrown cereals. He has found that thispalatable and nutritious ration ensures goodintakes and better feed conversion than drygrain. The wider window for harvest, at up to25% moisture content, is also welcome as itallows earlier autumn planting.
George and his wife Alison operate thecontracting business with two Kelvin Cavemachines. The first is a Korte 1400 crimperspecifically designed for the effectiveprocessing of grain harvested, rolled andensiled at 35-45% moisture, and pulses withmoisture content of 25-35%. This crimpedfeed is treated with Crimpstore preservative, aunique, non-corrosive blend of organic acids,designed to maximise nutrient retention andensure stability of the resulting concentratewhich is harvested at optimal nutritional valueand digestibility.
The second is a high-output KC Bruiser 1250machine, built to George’s specification, whichworks most weeks of the year. The Bruiser isused for grain below 25% moisture which istreated with Propcorn NC at harvest, and drygrain rolling the rest of the year, averaging
spectacular 42tph outputs on wheat andbarley when driven by George’s 230 hpMF6499 tractor.
For George the big advantage of Propcorn NCand Crimpstore is that they arenon-corrosive and don’t produce the acridfumes associated with un-buffered acidproducts, making it easier for theoperator and ensuring the millsremain in good condition, evenafter treating many thousands oftonnes a year.
George comments that evenstoring grain at 16-17%moisture, he prefers to give thegrain a ‘whiff’ of Propcorn NC as itkeeps much better during the dampScottish winters and helps keep mites at bay.Every customer has a different need anddifferent stock require different rations, fromrolled and treated oats for pre-lambing sheepin January to Crimpstore-treated barley forbeef rations throughout the year. Thesweet-smelling, home-produced concentratefeeds George produces appear to be alwayswelcome.
AS STRONG AS AN OX
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O2 Barrier 2in1is an innovative combinati
on of
polyethylene silage film and polyamide
vacuum film in a single sheet.
This unique product is only 100µm thick
but offers up to ten time less
oxygen-permeability, and at least as much
strength, as conventional sheeting
systems - ensuring the rapid formation
and sustainability of anaerobic conditions
in the clamp.
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©SW1 Ltd. 2013 - 13699• www.sw1.co.uk
• Heavy-duty 300gm/m2
protective silage netting only £1.33/m2
• Gravel bags 88p each
ClampTilesSecuring your silage investment
Ensuring effective, weighty coverage of silagesheeting is part of the answer to making quality,waste-free silage.
ClampTiles have been designed to meet this need,and eliminate the unpleasant work involved whenworking with tyres.
Suitable for partial coverage weighting sides andsheet joints, or total coverage if minimising the riskof bird damage is necessary.
ClampTiles are easy to handle and do not trap waterwhich provides a breeding ground for insects. Theycan be stacked tidily on a pallet and stored awaywhen not in use.
ClampTiles are made from 90% recycled material,and have a useful life expectancy of at least 15 years.
• Effective weight where it’s needed
• Ergonomically designed for ease of handling
• Protects silage sheet from bird damage
• Stackable for tidy storage
No more mucky tyres!
ClampNet
E : [email protected] www.kelvincave.com
T : 01458 252281
