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Step 1 - Side Wall Sheets |
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Step 2 - Fill with Silage |
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Step 3 - Cover Silage with Silostop film |
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Step 4 - Protect Silostop film |
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Step 1 (Optional) Side Wall Sheets |
Use Silostop film or regular plastic on side walls before filling to:
• ensure quality silage at shoulders
• ensure a good seal between top sheet and side walls
• divert water run-off away from silage
• protect side walls from damage
Apply plastic to side wall
Use silage at foot of wall to hold plastic in place
Once filled, pull side wall plastic over silage before top plastic film
> Step 2 - Fill with Silage
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Step 2 Fill with silage |
• Achieve a high packing density (minimum of 240 kg per cubic metre).
• Shape all surfaces so water drains off the bunker or pile, and the back, front, and side slopes should not exceed a 3:1 slope.
• If filling after a break, e.g. overnight, do not pack previous session’s surface. This only forces more air into the packed heap.
• Do not spend time packing the last load excessively. Pack it the same amount as all the other loads.
• Cover immediately.
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| Click to enlarge |
> Step 3 - Cover Silage with Silostop film
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Step 3 Cover silage with Silostop film |
After filling, cover the silage with Silostop film, which offers the following benefits:
• 20x more barrier than regular plastic
• Dry matter loss in top 1 metre reduced (from approx 20% to <10%)
• No visible surface mould to remove
• Elimination of mouldy silage improves animal intake
• Tyres can be reduced or eliminated
• Labour saving – faster and easier covering of the bunker
• Reduces cow health risk of ‘wire disease’
Silostop film can be successfully joined on large bunkers to prevent entry of water and air.
Overlap joins by at least 0.5m when using gravelbags, or 1-1.5m when using tyres.
Use a solid row of gravelbags or tyres on all joins.
Note that Silostop is not a substitute for good management, but is a very useful tool in the silage making toolbox.
> Click for Silostop brochure (UK)
> Step 4 - Protect Silostop film
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Step 4 Protect Silostop film |
Silostop film requires protection from UV light as well as from physical damage.
Option A
Regular plastic can be used to protect the film. This allows the benefits of Silostop film (for example, lower dry matter loss, reduction in tyres) to be achieved while at the same time making the system disposable.
Option B
For full protection, reusable woven tarpaulins or protective nets can be used. These are reusable year after year. Length of life will vary according to location and care.
They offer the following additional benefits:
• Help to prevent physical damage from birds and other pests
• Help to reduce overall weight required due to the woven structure allowing air to pass through
> Click for Silostop brochure (UK)
> Step 5 - Seal and Weight
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Step 5 Seal and weight |
When using Silostop film, either tyres or gravelbags can be used to seal and weight the sheet. Emphasis must be placed on sealing the edges and joins by using a solid row of gravelbags or at least 2 solid rows of tyres. There should be no gaps where air can enter.
Tyres
When using tyres, cover the whole surface with touching tyres in the usual way. The number of tyres used can be reduced if a good outside seal has been made. Consider using touching tyres with gravelbags on the outside edges to provide the seal.
Gravelbags
When using gravelbags, tyres can be eliminated altogether. Place a solid row of gravelbags along all outside edges and any joins. Then put rows of gravelbags approximately 4-6 metres (14-20 feet) apart.
The gravelbags can be placed on top of the protective cover, but must be in a position where they also seal the film. Remember: it is the Silostop film that must be sealed to exclude oxygen.
Approximate weight of gravelbags is 25kg (55lbs)
Effective length of gravelbags is 1m (3.3ft)
> Step 6 - Feed out
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Step 6 Feed out |
Always keep a solid row of gravelbags (or tyres) on the leading edge of the film to ensure that air does not travel under the film.
When using tarps (protective nets) these can be folded up and put away ready for next season while leaving the film in place.
Stack and store gravelbags on pallets for easy handling
Dispose of Silostop at recycling centres where available
> Click for Silostop recycling information (UK)
> Back to Step 1 - Side Wall Sheets
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Effect of Silostop on Oxygen Flow
Manufactured with different raw materials from regular plastic for silage covering, Silostop has a vastly improved effect on the flow of oxygen into the bunker.
Below is a table which shows an example of the flow rate of oxygen through both regular plastic and Silostop. This data has also been put into graph form to illustrate that more than 20 layers of regular plastic 125 microns thick is required to have the same effect as 1 layer of Silostop.
Oxygen Transmission Rate (OTR)
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