The Rural Voice, 1988-08, Page 59ADVICE
AVOID SEEPAGE IN
YOUR CORN SILAGE
Before long, farmers will be getting
anxious to start harvesting their corn for
silage.
The problem is that they may start
too soon, before the moisture content of
the corn has dropped low enough to
avoid seepage when placed in storage.
Seepage from silage is more than
just water. It contains soluble nutrients
which are highly digestible for live-
stock. Thus seepage represents a feed
value loss.
Seepage from fermenting silage also
contains organic acids, particularly lac-
tic and acetic, which cause a severe
corroding effect on unprotected con-
crete and steel.
Wet silage can cause the rapid dete-
rioration of concrete farm silos if proper
protective maintenance is not carried
out.
In fact, some silos have been etched
so badly that the remaining length of life
may be quite short.
The best way to prevent much of this
deterioration is to harvest the crop at
whatever moisture content is low
enough to prevent seepage. This level
varies with both the type and size of silo
used for storage.
Material put into horizontal silos can
be higher in moisture content than that
put into tower silos. Horizontal silos
will safely handle material in the 72 to
75 per cent range (depending on depth),
while tower silos require material well
below this level.
The maximum moisture content to
avoid seepage varies considerably ac-
cording to size. A 14 x 50 tower silo will
take material close to 70 per cent mois-
ture, but this material put into a 24 x 85
silo must be down in the 60 per cent
range (at least in the bottom portion of
the silo).
Of course the moisture level at har-
vest can also be too low. Although
material with a low moisture level helps
you to avoid seepage problems, it can
lead to poor packing and air exclusion,
which in turn can mean poor or inade-
quate fermentation, heating, and spoil-
age.0
H.E. Bellman
Agricultural Engineer
Heavy Duty
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Londesboro 519-523-4470
AUGUST 1988 57