Filling the Pantry: Silage Cutting 2020

 

Having a well-stocked pantry took on a whole new meaning this year. While we've always eaten the majority of our meals at home, suddenly all of America was scouring the freezer and the pantry for yet another meal to make during the stay-at-home orders due to Covid-19.

At the time, I joked that we could live off my food stash for a good long time. I grew up in a farm family, 15 minutes away from a grocery store. It wasn't a matter of running down to the corner store to get one lone missing ingredient to complete a meal. My mom had a well-stocked pantry and multiple freezers. I learned from the best. And it's a good thing: Just like my childhood home, our County Line home is 15 minutes away from a grocery store - or any restaurant offering either dine-in or carry-out options.

After last week, our cattle's "pantry" is again full, too. 

Harvesting silage is a different kind of harvest around here.

For one thing, it was all over and done with in about 4 hours. That's my kind of harvest. There's not the two weeks of wheat harvest angst with uncooperative weather and interminable breakdowns.

We hired Williamson Harvesting, St. John, to bring their silage cutter and trucks to cut 30 acres of silage.

For years, Randy's family and a neighbor family - the Hornbakers - did the job themselves. (I looked for photos, but I didn't find any.) When Randy was young, they had a one-row, pull-type silage cutter. Then they upgraded to a two-row, pull-type silage cutter. They each provided a tractor, one to pull the cutter and the other to use to pack the trench silo.

They each provided a truck to haul the cut silage from the field to the silo. And the wives provided a harvest meal for the four- to six-man crew. I seem to remember my mother-in-law talking about creamed peas being on the menu as a side dish. You'd think I'd retain knowledge of the favorite main dishes, but I didn't.

Randy says it took two days to get everything ready. It took a week to get both family's silage cut and in the silos. And then it took another two days to get everything cleaned up. 

Just like other farm tasks, the methods and the machinery have evolved during Randy's lifetime. We've hired the job done during our married life (and that's nearly 40 years now).

Hiring it done certainly simplifies things - though it does mean writing a check. There are tradeoffs to everything in life, I suppose.  

Silage cutting is another one of those choreographed farm "dances."

The silage feeds into the cutter and is chopped. An auger carries the chopped silage into the truck. 

 

All this happens "on the go," with the truck and the cutter continuing in sync through the field until they get to the end of the rows. They then move into position for the next swath down the field.

As they cut, another truck follows behind, ready to move into position when the first truck is full. By design, Randy plants the silage in fields fairly close to the silo so that it doesn't have to be trucked so far. This year, it was literally as close as possible, in the field just north of the silo.

 

Once the truck is full, the trucker takes it to the silo. 

The silage trucker backs into the trench silo, dumps his load and takes off for another load-on-the-go. 

 I give the truckers an A+ for their backing skills.

Between trucks, the tractor driver packs the silage into our own "Green Mountain." 

We grow the silage (also known as forage sorghum) for cattle feed. This particular variety is dual purpose: It has both grain and forage (or roughage), both of which are important to the cattle's diets as TDN - total digestible nutrients.

Once in the silo, the silage goes through an "ensiling" process. The silage goes through chemical changes and heat builds up. It raises the pH of the silage so that it doesn't spoil or ferment any more. About the top 6 inches of it will rot, but then it forms an airtight seal, protecting the silage underneath.

After we bring the cows and calves off the summer pastures, we'll start feeding the silage to the cattle. The mama cows will get the silage as is. For the feeder calves, we add about 3 to 4 pounds of vitamin- and mineral-enriched grain per head, since they need the additional energy to grow to get ready for market.

I'll be back in the feed truck this winter, helping Randy care for our feeder calves and mamas.

 

Last year, we didn't have enough silage to fill the trench silo. We sold feeder calves earlier than normal because of the lack of homegrown feed.

This year's crop should keep the "pantry" full all winter.

Top Secret Mission

"I'm sorry, Ma'am! But you can't take pictures."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry, but this is a prototype, and you can't take pictures."

"At all?"

"No, ma'am. I'm sorry."

OK. I'm up for a challenge. I can take pictures and not reveal your super secret MacDon draper header, Mr. MacDon Salesguy. (For the record, I asked our local harvester, and he said it was OK if I didn't show details of the header itself.)

It personally think it was more of a challenge to get the silage in the truck. The wind was blowing 90 mph from the north. (Well, maybe it wasn't that bad, but it sure seemed like it!) Naturally, that's the day the silage-cutting crew showed up to cut of 25 acres of silage.

The silage wasn't standing tall either. While we waited for our turn from the custom-cutting crew, the tall stalks succumbed to gravity. It was definitely a different scene than last year, when the stalks towered over Randy's 6-foot, 1-inch frame.

By the time the harvesters reached the second field, the sun was on its way down. Even though the lighting wasn't ideal on the photo below, I still liked the image of the four silage trucks waiting in their own mini version of a silage traffic jam.

Opening the field was challenging, since the silage was down and the wind was howling.

But, eventually, they were rolling, though the pace was slower than is sometimes the case.

Silage cutting is another one of those choreographed farm "dances." The silage feeds into the cutter and is chopped. An auger carries the chopped silage into the truck.

All this happens "on the go," with the truck and the cutter continuing in sync through the field until they get to the end of the rows. They then move into position for the next swath down the field.

As they cut, another truck follows behind, ready to move into position when the first truck is full.

By design, Randy plants the silage in fields fairly close to the silo so that it doesn't have to be trucked so far.

Once it's full, the trucker takes it to the silo.

I give the truckers an A+ for their backing skills.

The silage trucker backs into the trench silo, dumps his load and takes off for another load-on-the-go.

Between trucks, the tractor driver packs the silage into our own "Green Mountain."

Once in the silo, the silage goes through an "ensiling" process. The silage goes through chemical changes and heat builds up. It raises the pH of the silage so that it doesn't spoil or ferment any more. About the top 6 inches of it will rot, but then it forms an airtight seal, protecting the silage underneath.

After we brought the cows and calves off the summer pastures, the guys started feeding the silage to the feeder calves. For them Randy adds about 3 to 4 pounds of vitamin- and mineral-enriched grain per head, since they need the additional energy to grow to get ready for market. After the mama cows are done dining on milo stubble and volunteer wheat, they, too, will get the silage.

It's good to see the cattle's "pantry" full and ready for Old Man Winter.

Stockpile: A Silage Pictoral

Have you noticed the squirrels running around collecting their provisions for the winter? I've read that squirrels began gathering food earlier this year to prepare for a long, cold winter. The Farmers' Almanac also predicts a cold and snowy winter for many parts of the country. (The almanac map shows "freezing cold and average snowfall" for us.) Of course, it's a little hard to believe that on October 31 when the temperatures are supposed to be in the 80s later today. But then again, it's Kansas, so there's no point trying to predict the weather.

But, just like the squirrels, we've been packing away provisions for the winter. It's not for us. It's for our cows.

A couple of weeks ago, a custom crew came to harvest our silage crop. Rains early in the summer made for tall stalks.

However, Randy was disappointed in how little grain was in the heads of the silage. The rains quit about the time the grain was supposed to be filling the heads.

The crew arrived on an overcast day. It didn't rain, but it was gloomy (which didn't make for the best photos).

 With the tall stalks, it didn't take long to fill the trucks with the chopped silage.

The three truck drivers were meeting themselves coming and going, and the cutter operator still had some downtime waiting for them to get back from dumping at the silo.

The silage (or forage sorghum) we grow is dual purpose: It has both grain and forage (or roughage), both of which are important to the cattle's diets as TDN - total digestible nutrients.

Silage cutting is another one of those choreographed farm "dances." The silage feeds into the cutter and is chopped. An auger carries the chopped silage into the truck.

All this happens "on the go," with the truck and the cutter continuing in sync through the field until they get to the end of the rows.

 

They then move into position for the next swath down the field. Or, if the truck is full, it begins its short trip to the trench silo.

By design, Randy plants the silage in fields fairly close to the silo so that it doesn't have to be trucked so far.

Once at the silo, the truck dumps its load.

 

Then it's back to the field for another load on the go.

In the meantime, a tractor driver packs down the silage. 

Packing allows more to be put into the "pantry," so to speak, and it helps the fermenting process. Once in the silo, the silage goes through an "ensiling" process. It goes through chemical changes, and the heat builds up. It raises the pH of the silage so that it doesn't spoil or ferment any longer. The top 6 inches of it will rot, then it forms an airtight seal, protecting the silage underneath.

After we bring the cows and calves off the summer pastures, the guys will start feeding the silage to the cattle. The mama cows will get the silage as is. For the feeder calves, the guys will add about 3 to 4 pounds of vitamin- and mineral-enriched grain per head, since they need the additional energy to grow to get ready for market.

It's good to get another harvest crossed off the books ... and to see the cattle's "pantry" full and ready for Old Man Winter.

Today, we're going to bring the first group of cows and calves back home from summer pasture. We know the cold and snow will arrive soon enough - even if it's not on this 80-degree day. But with plentiful rains early in the summer and the newly-filled silo, they'll have plenty to eat - even if the Farmers' Almanac is right and it's a cold winter!

Jaguar on the Farm

A Jaguar prowled through our silage field, consuming its prey with a steady growl. It chomped and spit as it devoured with a seemingly insatiable appetite.

This Jaguar had not escaped from a zoo or been transported from its native South America to a rural Kansas farm. This Jaguar was a silage cutter which came to cut our 2015 crop.

 

For years, Randy's family and a neighbor family did the job themselves. When Randy was young, they had a one-row, pull-type silage cutter. Then they upgraded to a two-row, pull-type silage cutter. Each farm family provided a tractor, one to pull the cutter and the other to use to pack the trench silo.

Waiting on a truck to get back to the field

They each provided a truck to haul the cut silage from the field to the silo. And the wives provided a harvest meal for the four- to six-man crew. It took two days to get everything ready. It took a week to get both family's silage cut and in the silos. And then it took another two days to get everything cleaned up.

We hired John Evans and his custom crew out of Macksville to cut our silage crop. It took one afternoon to cut the two fields and fill the trench silo. Evans had four trucks hauling the cut silage from the field to the silo.

We grow silage (also known as forage sorghum) for cattle feed. This particular variety is dual purpose: It has both grain and forage (or roughage), both of which are important to the cattle's diets.

After each truck is filled, the driver takes it to the trench silo to dump.

A tractor packs the silage down, filling the silo with 500 tons of the green stuff.

It's a full pantry for the County Line cows.

After we bring the cows and calves off the summer pastures in November, the guys will start feeding the silage to the cattle. The mama cows will get the silage as is. For the feeder calves, Randy & Jake will add about 3 to 4 pounds of vitamin- and mineral-enriched grain per head, since they need the additional energy to grow to get ready for market.

We planted the 2015 silage crop in June. A hunter harvested some for his blinds in August. And we filled the silo on October 3. Click on the link for a look back at this County Line crop.