Since 1992, Michael Strauch and his father Berthold Strauch have been operating the agricultural service company Agrar Service Strauch in Isselburg (Lower Rhine) close to Holland's border. The Strauchs and their 16 employees provide harvesting services (corn, grass, crop, silage and straw), tillage, and also transports and communal services.

Two essential ingredients for success
The company produces several thousand round and square bales of silage. Michael Strauch considers the quality of the crop to be one of the two key factors for success with regard to bale silage. In order to avoid contamination and dirt in the silage, cut height is set not too close to the ground. The proper cut height not only reduces soil and dirt contamination of the ensiled product, but it also preserves the field while reducing weed formation during the following year.

The hydraulic height adjustment function of the new high-pressure bale press enables the company to adapt height with changing ground conditions, so that Michael can guarantee a clean silage crop is always produced even in uneven fields. To preserve the fields even more, the Strauchs use large tractor tires.

According to Michael, the film used to wrap the bales is the second critical element for successful bale silage making. "Eight layers are our standard," says Michael. "We consider anything less as being too little for high-quality forage. Bales need to be wrapped air-tight and with a sufficient number of layers of quality stretch film to preserve the quality of the ensiled crop". Punctured film will result in mould to grow on the surface of the bale in contact with the air; eight layers of film not only provide for a proper oxygen barrier, they make it also harder for birds and rodents to damage the bale.

Michael and his father had tested 10-15 different types of silage stretch film before finding the right film for their bale wrapper. "Experience showed us that everything but true quality film causes trouble. Poor quality film constantly tears and jams the winder, making it impossible to even wrap one entire bale at a time. We had to constantly take the bales off the wrapping plate in order to clean the machine", Michael explains. His advice: "Test a number of different films before finding the right one for your baler."

Weather impact
In particularly wet summers, such as this 2009 season, bale silage provides Michael with an excellent solution for conserving surplus grass quantities. In seasons with high yields of grass, as was the case this year, farmers seize the opportunity of producing versatile bale silage whenever the additional grass trailer loads do not justify setting up a new clamp silo. "Bales are increasingly popular for the late grass harvest in autumn", Michael explains. Also, according to him, part-time farmers or those with smaller fields tend to be hesitant at investing in silos and therefore prefer producing big bale silage.

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Autumn 2009 Newsletter
Testimonials Section