A testimonial from Johann Poller, farmer and contractor in Bavaria (Germany)

Johann Poller manages a farm with 80 hectares and 60 diary cows. He is also a contractor producing 8.000 to 10.000 silage bales per year, out of which 500 for his own use.

Mr. Poller today produces grass silage both in clamp and bale silage and complements his fodder portfolio with maize silage from clamp.

"We have been producing clamp silage for 25 years. Four years ago we had not enough clamp capacity and did not want to invest in a second clamp; therefore we started to produce bale silage and are very satisfied with this decision. The flexibility of bale silage is the key benefit for us. It is especially appropriate for smaller grassland surfaces and bales can be transported easily to wherever they are needed. For smaller farms that usually need less fodder bale silage is a very viable choice."

"We generally make five cuts and produce bale silage always from the third and fourth and sometimes from the second cut, whereas we generally use the first and fifth cut for clamp."

Mr. Poller uses green silage film, as it fits best into the landscape and he summarizes the main prerequisites for production of high quality silage as follows: "High quality, short cut grass is important in order to be able to wrap properly and to compress the bale as tightly as possible. Good wrapping techniques have to be applied and high quality film has to be used in order to prevent damage during transportation. Bales have to be handled with great care and it must be ensured that the film does not get damaged during the handling process. Therefore we always use six layers of film to ensure to get high quality bale silage."

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An Economic Benefit Tool has been recently developed to compare the costs of production of baled and clamp silage. The model, produced by the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER) in collaboration with Dow and other research institutes in Sweden and Germany, shows a clear cost benefit in favour of baling.

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