Hello to all,I am wondering if it is possible to store grass clipings,kinda like storing silage but on a small scale with maybe 55 gal drums.I have a bagger for my lawn tractor and figure why not use these clippings in the winter for the steers,if it can be done.any help would be much apreciated.Thanks much.Dave(central WI)No I don't have grass growing in my yard right now,just snow.

-- Dave (duckthis1@maqs.net), February 02, 2002

Answers

Dave:

Your answer is yes.

There are two forms available. Grass silage and grass haylage. Basically it involves the same procedures a large farmer would use, just on a smaller scale.

For silage, the grass would be put up wet (fresh cut early in the morning). For haylage, it would either be cut later in the day (after the morning moisture is off) or windrowed until partially dry and then stored. A test for haylage is to take a handful and try to tear/twist it in half. If it does and there is still a bit of moisture at the tear, it is ready to process.

I would think 35- or 55-gallon, plastic, food-grade drums with a sealable lid would be excellent. If not available, get the best heavy-duty trash bags you can find. Take a metal garbage can and drill some holes in the bottom. Put in two bags, one inside the other. Now load about half full and compress with your feet in layer after layer until the inner bag is full, but still has enough room for the neck to be twisted and tied off. (Twist, fold-over like a gooseneck, then tie both together.) Now do the same with the outer bag. Turn the can upside down. Due to the air holes provided (to relieve the vacuum) the bagged contents should drop right out. (May be easier to carry if dropped on a board or something.)

You have the option of adding either enhancers or preservatives betwen layers. Examples are a handful of dried molasses, salt (rock salt for a water softener will do, but feedstores will have loose livestock salt as well) or loose pasture minerals. This would also be a good place to include chopped up sweet corn stalks, still green bean plants, etc.

Store out of sunlight, under cover, preferable with the bottom layer on a pallot. When fed out, introduce it gradually so they become accustomed to it. The outer bag should be clean. The inner bag can be turned inside out and washed.

DO NOT USE CLIPPINGS FROM A LAWN WHICH HAS BEEN SPRAYED!!! (And, yes, I meant to shout here.)

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), February 02, 2002.

verry interesting.

-- Don Amon (peacelane@certainty.net), February 02, 2002.

Ken, how long does the silage or haylage have to sit before it is ready to feed? I'm not sure how I would know it was ready, and doing it this way, would there still be mold that would need to be scraped off?

-- Carol K (ck7951@bluefrognet.net), February 02, 2002.

If the container is airtight, there should be very little, if any, mold or rotting. Silage will have some fermenting, with liquids at the bottom of the bag, called effulence. On one dairy farm in WI (years and years ago) I remember Dad dipping it out of the bottom of the silo and feeding it directly to the cows in a trough.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), February 02, 2002.

Make during the summer and feed out during the winter. I doubt most people would put up much more than what would be a treat now and then.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), February 02, 2002.

The key here would be _AIRTIGHT_ and _COMPRESSED_. If you get these wrong, you will have a lot of mold & that can be dangerous to your livestock.

The silage needs to ferment a few weeks, maybe 3? If it ferments _without_ oxygen, it turns into good healty feedstuff, it's pickled. If there is any oxygen in the process, it ferments into crappy moldy junk. So, the container needs to be airtight, and stay that way as long as it's stored. If you do not compress the clippings, there will be enough air (with oxygen) trapped in the bag to allow mold to grow.

Airtight, and very compressed.

--->Paul

-- paul (ramblerplm@hotmail.com), February 02, 2002.

Interesting, this is something I've wanted to do for years. Sometimes during the summer our yard grass gets so thick it is hard to mow. Especially if it still has some leftover clippings from the last mowing.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), February 02, 2002.