Making silage on a small scale from lawn clippings

[saysfaa]

I have time to try silage-making the next time we cut the lawn.

I brought home two 55-gallon steel barrels and their lids. Also, a box of 55-gallon barrel liners (basically big plastic trash bags; not the rigid kind of liner) I already had some of the optional things I've seen in descriptions of how to do it: grain, molasses, salt, and small plastic bags.

I don't have an inner lid. Until I find something better, I'm going to try sand bags as the inner lid.

The barrels are coated on the inside to hold fruit juice so I shouldn't need the liners but I can try without them if I can get this to work.

I know I need to get the moisture level of the grass right. I'm not willing to stink up the microwave to test it that way. So, I will go with the hand squeeze method and add grain or molasses to compensate for the imprecision.

I'm undecided on how many small bags to use. I don't have enough chickens to feed it fast enough to keep the edge fresh. But I'm not sure I will feed it this time anyway. I think I will just play with different size small bags and go with what turns out easiest to work with. Once I can get it to work, I can try adjusting to get it to work better.

If anyone has tried it, please share your results.

 

[Folly's place]

I'm not sure that silage is appropriate for chickens in the first place! And that recipe isn't so great as chicken food anyway. Seems like a waste of time and effort to me.
Mary

 

[saysfaa]

Maybe so. I'll look into it a lot deeper before trying to feed much of it. So far, the reasons and evidence of the people feeding it look stronger than the reasons and lack of evidence of the people who think it isn't a good idea. I haven't looked very much yet, though.

To me, it is worth trying either way. Worst case scenario, I'll be out $12 for the bags I wouldn't have bought otherwise but can find a use for anyway, $6 for the barrels that I would have bought next year instead, and moving the grass an extra time or two instead of putting it straight in a compost pile. And a little time making sandbags out of scrap materials. Not much risk.

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

Give it a go, then you'll have a new skill or at least learn something about the process. I let areas of my lawn grow and cut and dry the grass as hay bedding (with a scythe).

 

[raingarden]

Silage is just another form of fermentation (anaerobic). I'm interested. Keep us posted.

 

[saysfaa]

One barrel is full.

The hand squeeze method of telling the moisture level did not go well. It might go well enough if I could practice with known moisture levels. My best estimate is the grass had somewhere in the mid to high 60's percent moisture. It needs to be 60-65% for silage. If it is too high, I'll get a butyric acid fermentation instead of a lactic acid fermentation. I'll be able to tell by the smell when I open it up. If I understand how it all works correctly.

It is just lawn clippings. Adding grain or molasses would help it but we started late in the day. It rained earlier and we waited for the grass to dry enough to cut. I just didn't want to take the extra time.

I tried only double bagging with the 55-gallon bags; no smaller bags. I had planned to cut the lawn myself, where I could take as much time as I wanted. Instead, I needed to keep up with my help who was mowing while I did the trimming between emptying wheelbarrow loads.

In the beginning, the bags were obnoxious. Especially dealing with two of them. They slid around, slid down, bunched up, fell in, fell out, billowed.... it was pretty bad.

About the time I had the barrel a third full (the first time - before much packing down), the bags got easier to deal with. I ended up thinking two made made the task easier overall - the sliding around was helpful after the beginning.

I packed it by standing on it. I highly recommend getting a second person or setting up something solid to stand on. Or at least hold on to. Or all three. I'm glad there were no video cameras around.

I knew I needed to pack it as I went rather than just at the end. "Packing," meaning both spreading to leave as few air pockets as possible and weighing it down. The farm scale versions of bunker silos drive over it with tractors to pack it down. I'm not happy with how well I packed it in the beginning. I need a safer way to get into the barrel so I can stand on it sooner and more often. Possibly, standing on something narrower than my shoes might help also - maybe a chunk of 2x4.

My standing technique got better later. It worked better to walk fairly quickly over all of it to get most of the compression done. Then to go back over it more slowly, basically standing on each spot for longer, overlapping steps, rocking, and repeating multiple times. Emphasis on standing a lot longer. Pressing after smaller layers helps also.

I don't know if better pressing later was enough to make up for not enough in the beginning. Anyway, I put at least 15 wheelbarrow loads (about 22 gallons each) of grass into the 55 gallon barrel. So LOTS of packing.

I didn't need the sand bags - I filled the barrel.

Finally, I learned there are two different diameters of 55-gallon barrels. Or my barrels are a little smaller than 55 gallons. The top didn't fit. Neither style of top fit. Nor did a third style of top borrowed from the burn barrel I got at the same place last year. They are all too big. So, I set one top on it and set a five gallon bucket of gravel on that.

 

[saysfaa]

Oh. I forgot to get cement blocks or find wooden beams to set under it. If it is off the ground, it won't rust as fast.

 

[Magnumchicken]

Don't add anything to the silage. Grass clippings only. Pack as tight as you can. Keep out any airflow. Fresh cutting will have about enough moisture. Something with a lot of alfalfa or clover works way better for chickens. I'm doing the same thing with straight alfalfa.

You can also drop buckets of fresh clippings in the freezer for winter time.

Many cattle ranchers do this on large scale. Lots of videos out there.

 

[Folly's place]

Right, for cattle. Not horses, and what about chickens?
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

Have you looked at any actual ag sites about silage? Not chicken blogs, actual ag extension sites, for example. And inquired about testing your product before trying to feed it.
Mary