Trends & Developments

Developments in Bale Silage

Issues and opportunities in today’s bale silage production in Poland
By Dr. Barbara Wróbel and Dr. Halina Jankowska-Huflej, researchers at the Institute for Land Reclamation and Grassland Farming at Falenty, Poland
The interest in producing high quality feed for ruminants is growing and bale silage is becoming increasingly popular in Poland, especially among dairy farmers and breeders. However, the quality of the silage produced is often poor. This article looks at the key issues and opportunities in today’s silage production in Poland. Read article

Silage dilemma solved with new Economic Benefit Tool
By Raymond Jones, Leader of Livestock Systems and Integrated Land Use, IGER, Aberystwyth, Wales.
A new web-based Economic Benefit Tool (EBT) is now available to help farmers predict the economic benefit of harvesting silage as bales compared to forage harvesting and storage in clamps. The model, developed jointly by the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER) and Dow, shows that significantly reduced wastage gives a clear benefit to baling every time. Read article

Development of bale silage in France
By François Gaillard, researcher at CEMAGREF, the Agricultural and Environmental Engineering Research Institute (France)
Over the past few years, bale wrapping has carved out a sizeable role in forage harvesting techniques in France. In this article, François Gaillard illustrates the key developments in this area and the main benefits of bale wrapping to livestock farmers. Read article

Future development of bale silage, its advantages and its increasing significance in German agriculture
By Dr. Johannes Thaysen, Consultant for Fodder Conservation and Fodder Quality at the Agricultural Chamber in Schleswig-Holstein (Germany)
Influenced by factors such as the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, future developments in German agriculture will see further concentration and specialisation of farms and a growing amount of low-input grass for silage production. In this article, Dr. Thaysen illustrates the future developments of bale silage systems in Germany, its advantages and its increasing significance in German agriculture. Read article

Forages Towards 2010
By Prof. Per Lingvall, senior researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Science
In this article, Prof. Lingvall looks at the recent trends in bale silage and illustrates the growing applications and future developments in baling and wrapping technology. Read article

Equipment trends and developments

Increasingly versatile and cost efficient machinery
By David Leroyer, product manager at Kverneland Group in France
The equipment market has developed rapidly over the past twenty years, first with portable machines then, soon after, with the introduction of trailer-mounted machines, followed by increasingly sophisticated systems. Today, users are looking for reliable, autonomous, versatile machinery, enabling them to increase profitability. In this article, Mr. Leroyer analyses the bale-wrapping systems currently available in the market. Read article

Reducing Bale Silage Costs by Optimising Value and Equipment
By Staffan Soderberg, grass silage farmer and machinery engineer, Sweden
With an extensive experience in traditional baling machinery, the author illustrates a new wrapping technology, the cross-pack wrapping technique that improves efficiency in bale silage production and maximises the quality of the ensiled crop. Read article