HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1987-03-18, Page 51Ontario Minister of Agriculture and Food, Jack Riddell, took the opportunity of buying his
crop insurance from Dashwood Crop Insurance agent Donald Weigland at the 20th an-
niversary
banquet of crop insurance agents early in February. The deadline. for purchas-
ing insurance for general crops and tobacco under the Canada -Ontario Crop Insurance
Program is May 1, 1987. (OMAF photo)
We
Farmers beware of silo gas
By John Heard
Soils and Crops Sepciayst
We like to worry about making corn
silage. Farmers worry about the correct
moisture content to ensile at, and we,
government folks, worry about farmers
killing themselves with silo\gas.
Corn reaches its maximum silage dry
matter yield at 30-40% dry. matter. The
variance Within this range accounts for
hybrid differences and CHU location in On-
tario. A 35% dry matter sample of whole
plant silage compares to 40-45% grain
Moisture.
Obviously then we will be determining
the right silage moisture content with
something other than a grain moisture
tester.
A microwave oven works well to quickly
dry corn silage formoisture determina-
tions. Weigh out . a 100 gram sample of
chopped silage. Zap for 6 minutes in the
' tnicrowave. Reweigh. Zap for 2 minutes.
Reweigh. Zap and reweigh at 2 minute
time intervals until , you no longer find
weight. loss. (Burning the sample does not
constitute weight loss - use the previous
weight in your calclation.).
Moisture content of the silage is then
equal to weight of wa er burned off divided
by the initial weight times 100.
A result of 65% moisture would then cor-
respond with 35% dry matter.
Corn silage cannot all be harvested and
ensiled at the exact correct moisture (for
the same reason we can't plant all our corn
on the. best planting date). Safe limits for
storage are: 'a) for harvested storage,
greter than 60% moisture; b) for upr`iht
concrete silos - greater than 55%
moisture; c) for larger upright silos - corn
can be stored at 50%; d) for •oxygen
limiting silos, as low as 35 too 45% moisture.
Once the corn is in the silo it's time to
worry about the farmer..
Nitrate, a form of nitrogen in the corn
plant, covert to poisonous gas. Examina-
• ticn of those unfortunates who have been
killed by silo gas show massive bleeding in
their lungs - due to nitrogen dioxide gas.
The most common reason for poisoning is
because the farmer feels he has to level off
the silage at the top of the silo. This is ajob
better left undone in many cases.
Indicators of silo gas are: a) brown or
yellow haze at the. silage surface or feed
room floor; b) coughing of livestock (since
animals on the floor are exposed to heavier
gas concentrations\ than a person stan-
ding) ; c) dead flies, cats or mice on the
feed room floor.
Tests have shown that running a blower
for 20 minutes will likely disperse the gas
IF the silo surface is within 15' of the toprof
the silo and the doors are all closed.
However, silo gas is unpredictable. It's,
best to stay out of the silo.
Be careful if there are open doors. The
gas may spill down the chute. If there are
opeelnn silo\doors, keep the feed room door
shut\ and disperse the gas with a ven-
tilating fan in the feed room. -
BE CAREFUL. There have been too
many tragedies to take chances. The re-
cent wet conditions may increase the
possibilities of a problem. Fire depart-
, ments are available in the event of a life
threatening emergency.
Page 11A
Box 88, Mildmay, Ont. NOG 2J0
(519) 367-5358
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