RECIPES

Wednesday 21 April 2021

Maize Silage

 

Agriculture is a great way of watching the seasons change.  It is currently time to harvest maize silage (for cattle feed) – heading for the end of autumn but before winter wetness arrives.




Driving on country roads at this time of year means almost inevitably that you will meet a harvester and/or trucks with high sides and tractors with trailers. 

The whole plant (cob, leaf and stalk) is chopped up finely together and loaded into a vehicle to be carried away to a silage stack.  Often the stack will be on a different farm, the farmer having purchased the crop for his own use.




Once the silage has been dropped off at its storage place, it is rolled firmly and shaped into a stack before being covered with tarpaulins and tyres until it is required for use as highly nutritious winter feed.




The sun is shining this morning, but we have a slight possibility of thunder later on.  Time to get the washing hung out so it can dry before any rain comes 😊

Margaret.


20 comments:

  1. Signs of the Season... Whichever one, you are in.

    Hope the wash dried, and beat the storms!!!

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  2. That sounds like a good way to provide nutritious cattle feed all winter.
    I hope you got your washing dry before it rained.

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  3. I have washing on the line as well, some of it from Monday.

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  4. Well, it is snowing here....and I have one iris that is blooming...the others are not near ready.

    Farming is similar the world over...

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  5. They do the same type of storage for silage here:)

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  6. I really like the way bedsheets smell after they've been hung outdoors to dry.

    That dirt road heading towards that mountain scene is really beautiful!

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  7. I had no idea that was what is under all those hillocks of tyres! Thank you! And so much better than imported Palm Kernel. Yes, although the weather is pretty mild, it's obvious that winter approacheth ... and we'd better get used to the idea! Meanwhile, make the most of every fine day.

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  8. We have the same thing in the fields here in autumn.
    At the moment we are waiting for summer harvest
    And very often the big trucks are on the roads and at this time it is difficult to drive.

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  9. Same here in UK, I grew up in rural Somerset, we had more fields than houses.

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  10. I remember when silage was a new thing on our South Canterbury farm, and replaced all those bales of hay that, got lifted, stacked, carted, and fed out by hand. Silage was a new smell to get used to - fermented greenery. Now that we know how good fermented food is for us humans, we can better appreciate why animals preferred (and did better on) the silage than the hay, even the lucerne hay. And we kids were not sorry to see the end of the heavy lucerne hay bales. Maize is a relatively new fodder crop in NZ. It is very hard on soil as water run-off between rows causes loss of topsoil and leaching of nutrients. It doesn't protect soil the way grass cover and clovers do.

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  11. Most of ours look ancient compared to this!
    Ohhh, thunder and rain, can I come over? x

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  12. Yep, when one of those giant vehicle are in front of you you just have to stay calm and drive slowly. Better to stay far back if you can because they can splatter your vehicle with smelly substances at times!

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  13. Hello

    I love the first scene and photo. The corn harvesting with those two vehicles, looks much the same here.
    Take care, have a happy day!

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  14. The animals are welcome to their silage. I hope it won't be long (it will be a few months but I dream) till we can have fresh corn 😄😄

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  15. Just love that first photo. I can almost smell the heat and dust of late summer. Enjoy your rain when it comes. B x

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  16. I can picture the clothes on the line. We are getting our wash out too, though we have to wait between the raindrops too. Snow in the forecast for Friday!

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  17. Me ha encantado verlo. Besos.

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  18. Terrific pictures of life on the farm. The work never ends, it just changes with the seasons.

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  19. Love the first photo - it would be nice blown up and framed or painted as art. Hope you are well, Margaret. Stay safe and have a great week!

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  20. I find it's more the smell of sileage that gets up my nose but it is what it is, part of farming life.

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Thank-you for visiting my blog. I love it when you leave a comment so please feel free to have your say. Have a great day! Margaret xx