Chopping Silage 101
It is a fall ritual (and necessity at our farm) to chop silage. This makes the "food" that we feed the cattle all winter. I guess it is a fine "art"....so I'm told.
Many years ago, the local men would go around "chopping" at the neighbors...they all would move from farm to farm and help each other out. The women would try to out do each others cooking and I guess it was quite an event.
Fast forward 30 years.....
When we chop at our farm, it takes about 2 days. Corn that is still a bit green is "chopped" by a....you guessed it....."chopper"....and then the "chopped" corn (stalks and all) is loaded into wagons and hauled to the pit (or pile as some call it). It is then packed so that it can ferment (you are all jealous of our cows now arentcha!!!!) and then through out the winter it is fed to the cattle.
About January, it smells absolutely marvelous!!!!!!!!
This year was kind of exciting because we had our own chopper. Jory and his cousin drove to Illinois a few weeks ago and brought it home. It worked really well....no breakdowns.
It takes several guys to get this job done....one to run the chopper, 3 or so to haul, one at the pit to help unload the wagons and one guy to pack the pit. I had the honor of feeding these boys for two days....it takes a bit of creativity to create a hearty, portable, self serve lunch let me tell ya!!! I had it ready for Jory in the morning and he took it to the shop.....crock pots are a must around these parts!!!
Anyway, here are a few photos that hopefully give you a little sense of what is happening.....
You have to have pretty good aim with this stuff....
Cloud o' silage
Jeff's tractor decorations....
Supervisor....
Jory is packing the pit, the road curving behind leads through the pasture to the field. In the distance you can see the tractor waiting to go fill, and then the others out in the field...
Dumping at the pit...
RRRRRRRoughage.....mmmmmmmmmm
So there is your farming lesson of the day....you can chew on that one a bit....
Until next time....
ShellieB
Michelle, thanks for the lesson. From one sporadic blogger to another, jump in whenever you can. It is therapeutic to share with the outside world all the great experiences we usually take for granted.
ReplyDeleteP.S. the kids are all so big!