Low-Cost Silage Pit Made From Big Square Bales

Low-Cost Silage Pit Made From Big Square Bales HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Forage Handling 20-5-8 "I made a hay silage pit by using big square bales to form the outside walls. I call it my low-cost Ag Bagger," says Scott Jennette, Bee Branch, Ark. Jennette places a row of 4 by 8-ft. bales two high on each side (one high where the pit starts). He then drapes plastic down over the bales so that moisture from the silage won't rot the hay. Then he dumps loads of silage into the pit, dozes it into a pile, and drives over it several times with a tractor. When the pit is full he folds the rest of the plastic over the top of the silage. "I drive over the silage until it's rock hard. Then I remove the bales and put them in my barn so I can feed them," says Jennette. "I pack the silage so tight that when I remove the bales the side of the silage pile will stand straight up. I need to let the silage stand for at least one month before I remove the bales. It's a low-cost way to make a silage pit only if you can feed the hay. If you have to buy the hay but can't feed it, it wouldn't be worth it." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Scott Jennette, Rt. 2, Box 146, Bee Branch, Ark. 72013 (ph 501 654-2572).

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