Bale Density Study with Penn State University - Part 1

when it comes to cutting and storing hey little things mean a lot the timing of cutting the dry down and the density of your bales they can all make a big difference in the performance of your cattle one trend is more producers are putting up their forage as village or silage one of the benefits of producing silage is that it's at a higher moisture versus your dry hay and your dry forage that that you're producing so with that we're going to see less leaf loss and you're going to see overall less loss with respiration so both of those things actually leads to overall better forage quality or overall higher nutritive value of those forages which in turn is going to give you better feed to feed your livestock whenever you're deciding on where Bale edge will fit into your particular operation it's always important to think about the class of livestock that you're feeding and where they are within the production cycle for example younger growing cattle are going to have higher nutrient requirements and this Bale age overall is going to give you a higher nutrient value for feeding these livestock protein as we all know when you talk to you nutritionists whether you're producing beef or you're producing milk it's the most expensive ingredient and so Balak or silage is a golden opportunity to harvest more of your leaves and in the case alfalfa for instance 71 percent of the value and nutritional value is found where it's found in the leaf so if I can harvest more leaves and Bale each gives me that opportunity I can harvest a higher value of protein or a higher percentage of protein if I can keep the Bale temperature too hot when I wrap it I can also save and conserve some more protein so trying to get all that oxygen out is really the name of the game and bail density is ultimately where you want to be the denser the better in fact New Holland is working with Penn State University to do comprehensive research that will better define the impact of bail density and the factors that influence it how do you set your baler to make the perfect veil the are many different ways to do that the main thing you want to focus on is getting it the highest density possible and it take it requires it's going to be harder on the equipment unless the equipment's designed for that but you want to get a dense Bale it's going to be heavy yeah it's going to be more of a challenge to move but it's still going to give you that less oxygen and ferment properly so the things producers need to think about is getting rid of the oxygen the proper moisture and getting it seal as quick as possible after you've chopped it or bailed it it's the goal to get the oxygen out of the Bale as quick as you can but ok should I make that bail at 10 pounds per cubic foot is that good enough or is it 15 what's the goal is it 20 where should we be so we're seeking some answers we'd like to see specifics on recommendations of bail density as well as moistures because that's another big debate that rages on I don't think we've teased out yet exactly what the ground speed but the it would goes right back to those basic principles you want to make a dense bail and if you're going at 10 miles an hour and not making a dense bail that's too fast while on the other hand going at 4 miles an hour it's gonna take you a lot longer to get the baling done so try to make a compromise but make it as dense as you can make it bail density is even more important in putting up silage or Bale edge because less room for oxygen should lead to higher fermentation and last spoilage and a higher amount of feed value per Bale can save a producer a trip or two when they're hauling hay to their cattle so what research has shown in the past is that with any fermented forage or any inside forage typically the denser you can get you can pack that forage the better fermentation you're going to have so in short the quicker you can get the oxygen eliminated from that forage whether you're packing it in a bunk or in a bag or if you're bailing it like we're doing in this particular study typically the more dense you can get that the better fermentation you're going to have which overall is going to give you a better quality product to feed your animals if you see a bale with a nice round radius in a square edge that's the ideal silage bale and the reason it's ideal is those little divots on the edges whenever you unroll those bales especially the longer you want to keep them in storage if there's going to be white sugar mold or white mold anywhere it's gonna be on those edges of the bale where those pockets are at because that forage wasn't as dense on those edges and there was more oxygen there the research project at Penn State is not yet complete the team is continuing to look at a variety of factors that impact forage quality and the ability to avoid spoilage this includes the width of wind rows the speed of baling and even the different types of round baler design and the concept is as does the chamber design affect the density of the bale the other thing is is does groundspeed affect the density of the Bale so as you pull the baler faster it's generally thought that that reduces density it's probably true but just how fast does it reduce density can I as a producer pull that baler at 10 mile an hour to maximize tons per hour and take a small hit in density I bet you there's Baylor's that can do that and I bet there's Baylor's that can't so we seek to find that answer as well finding answers and giving producers the tools to make better decisions and better quality feed for their cattle is the goal of the research in Pennsylvania I'm Brian Baxter reporting for NC bas cattleman to cattleman

Channel: New Holland North America

Views: 69,017

Rating: 4.7600002 out of 5

Keywords: psu, bale density, better baling, hay, hay baling, haymaking, penn state agronomy, new holland, baling hay, bale density study, hay bale, baling, hay baler, new holland baler, john deere baler, kubota baler, baler, best hay baler, which hay baler, vermeer baler

Id: t9yma1x4tLs

Length: 5min 54sec (354 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 04 2019