Unloading silo questions

JayinNY · Dec 31, 2015

I have a friend iv help over the last 6 years with his beef cows, I think now he has ov 50 head, anyway he feeds them haylage, he's son quit helping him and he's pretty crippled up, walks with a cane ect. He asked me in Novemeber to pitch haylage out of the silo, there were 3 piles at the top about 3/4 way up, it was dry hay like dry chopped hay, there's some white mold mixed in it, then below all this is brown I guess what hayledge should be. My question is what should I do with all the stuff that had the white mold in it? My friend was going to come up and help me throw it out and then put it under the cows for bedding but we haven't gotten to it yet. I have been mixing the dry stuff in with the brown stuff. Any that job of forking it out of the silo stinks, on windy days the wind blows it up the tube you climb up in and all over you, Then your soaked from sweating and it sticks to you it's a crummy job.

retired farmer · Dec 31, 2015

Feed it to the cows, it won't hurt them.

coshoo · Dec 31, 2015

I had a hay loft with a couple feet of old hay piled up- probably 20 years old, some moldy, some brown. Pitched it out the door with the idea of spreading it with the manure spreader the next day. By next day, it was gone- cows ate it all.

Horses will have bad results from eating moldy hay- but cows seem to be able to handle it fine.

Nathan (SD) · Dec 31, 2015

I agree. They will eat the white stuff first. I think blue and red are the bad mold colors.

jeffcat · Dec 31, 2015

Long ago when we would open the silos it got spread out in the fields. Would keep the girls away from it for a week or two till it got rained on and the sun would kill most everything. the heffers would eat almost anything if they could get near it.

notjustair · Dec 31, 2015

My hogs would fight them for it. Hogs and cattle you don't have to worry about. With cattle I always go by the rule that they are picky enough not to eat anything that would make them sick. I sure wish I could run a few of my hogs in the feeder side of the pasture. I wouldn't have to feed them for months. That rotten hay is a delicacy.

We ran trench silo when I was a kid. If you could mix in the top stuff enough they would eat it. Usually it stayed in the bunks. Unless you threw it out in the lot. Then they ate it like you were starving them. Sedan sileage is still on of my favorite smells. Never dealt with haylage, but I doubt the sugar content is as high. I doubt it would trip my memories like sedan.

fixerupper · Dec 31, 2015

I wouldn't feed it to pregnant cows.

Buckeye · Dec 31, 2015

I would suggest wearing a mask. I know corn silage mold spores are bad for your respiratory system and would think haylage would be too.

gab · Dec 31, 2015

Now I got another thing to be thankful for, haven't been up a silo in about

40 years. Have to crawl up in the middle of winter and chip frozen silage off the north side so the unloaders would turn, crawl up to change doors, crawl up to close the roof or open it..first couple of years with the second silo we only had one set of pipes, was always the coldest windiest day in the fall moving the pipes over, glad them days are over.

Kickinbull · Jan 1, 2016

One winter hay was in short supply. I came across a guy that had a silo full of alfalfa silage. If I remember it was a 14 x 50. No unloader. I made the deal to buy it. It was 12 miles from the farm. Every day, no matter the weather, I went after a pickup load. Pitched it onto and elevator to load, then carried it by baskets to feed each cow back at the farm. I got down to about 15 ft at the bottom and spring grass came so I just left the rest. By that time I had fully paid for the whole we had agreed on. The closer you get to the bottom the harder its packed! Was good feed, get me through the winter.

Geo-TH,In · Jan 1, 2016

In Indiana, grass mold is white mold, which I'm allergic too.

brutus49DC · Jan 1, 2016

as Mr. Rogers would say "can you say silo unloader?, "sure, I knew you could!"

VicS · Jan 1, 2016

I think horses can get use to almost anything. I have given away hay, I thought would kill my horses. Neighbor fed it to his all winter. It was round bales up to 3years old. That was baled to wet. That's all his got! No I'm not recommending it.

Gary from Muleshoe · Jan 1, 2016

Back in the 70s I worked on a dairy, and the worst thing was freeing up a frozen unloader cause the bosses kid forgot to raise it to clear it. And of course the boss and kid were in where it was warm while I was working on it. Haven't been near one since 1980.

centash · Jan 1, 2016

The haylage should not be brown; that's an indication it heated in the silo. That results in 'carmelization' of the feed and ties up the protein such that cattle cannot digest all of it. Other than that, it should be OK. Wear a mask when handling the white mould; it can bring on 'farmer's lung'; if you feel flu like symptoms after a day or so. Yes, its a miserable job and will get worse if the haylage freezes solid and also when you near the bottom of the silo, it can be packed so tight a fork will just bounce off. Not easy to install a silo unloader after the silo is filled. Just think of the muscles you will develope....

Ben

bock · Jan 1, 2016

we used to feed or horses stuff the milk cows wouldnt eat but wouldnt do it to a high dollar horse just hay burners

Unloading silo questions

JayinNY

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retired farmer

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coshoo

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Nathan (SD)

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jeffcat

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notjustair

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fixerupper

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Buckeye

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gab

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Kickinbull

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Geo-TH,In

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brutus49DC

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VicS

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Gary from Muleshoe

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centash

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bock

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