Silage is a very valuable feed, especially for cattle. The quality of milk often depends on its quality. Therefore, its preparation and storage should be approached with maximum responsibility. This applies to absolutely all stages, from the preparation of the pit to the excavation.
Silo is either a compressed green mass of annual or perennial plants, cereals, corn, or a mash of potato tubers, frozen or affected by fungal diseases, and therefore unsuitable for food. Mowed grass before laying in the pit must be crushed without fail. At the same time, thin-stemmed plants are chopped or cut into pieces of at least 3-4 cm long. Pipe-stemmed plants, such as sunflower, corn, etc., are at least 5-6 cm.
First, of course, you need to prepare the pit. Its depth should be about 2.5 m. Width - not more than 3.5 m. The length can be any. The walls of the pit are made inclined, and the corners rounded. Silo is a food which during the preparation process can very easily rot. In this case, it is not allowed to feed its cattle. Rotten silage will only be suitable for compost. Therefore, it is very important to ram the mass as tightly as possible.
After the pit is dug, it is necessary to coat its walls with a sufficiently thick layer of clay or even lay it on a brick and concrete it with a cement mortar mixed with lime. The mass is stacked in layers with a tamper of each. Harvesting silage if very juicy herbs are used (potato tops, stalks of young corn, etc.) is made with the addition of chopped straw in an amount of about 10% of the total weight.
When used for siloing root crops, the pit is not completely filled. The fact is that potatoes roam very intensely. As a result, the mass increases somewhat in volume. The grass is laid and tamped until the pit is filled to the brim. This condition must be fulfilled. Otherwise, in the future, rain or melt water will fall into the pit, which is extremely undesirable.
Bookmark should be made no more than 1-2 days. Otherwise, the feed will turn out to be of poor quality. After some time, the compressed grass will settle. If the ramming was done correctly, the shrinkage will have to be no more than 10%. Also, no later than after 1-2 days, the pit will need to be supplemented to the brim.
Since silage is a green mass that has fermented without air, it should be tightly covered. In this case, a plastic film is usually used. Most importantly, the pit should be covered as carefully as possible. The edges of polyethylene are covered with earth. Sometimes instead of a film, a clay layer (10 cm) is used. In this case, after shrinking, grease the edges, since the “cover” in this place will necessarily crack.
Storage of the silo in winter also involves covering the pit with a straw layer of 30 cm (when using a film) or ground with a layer of 40 cm (when using clay). If this is not done, the food may freeze.
It is necessary to take out the fermented mass very carefully, cutting out a piece so that it does not loosen the remaining layers on the side and bottom. After excavation, the pit is surely covered again with a film and the edges are again sprinkled.