By Raymond Jones,
Leader of Livestock Systems and Integrated Land Use, IGER, Aberystwyth, Wales.

An economic benefit tool  (EBT) to predict the economic benefit of harvesting silage as bales compared to forage harvesting and storage in clamps has been produced by the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, Wales, UK (IGER) in collaboration with Dow Europe.

The economic model is designed to be an interactive web-based tool and allows the user to select a country, the type of crop to be ensiled and estimated conservation losses in bales and clamp. Based on the data input, the model will calculate the costs based on the country of selection. To begin with, users will be able to choose from three countries: UK, Sweden and Germany.

The economic benefit tool was designed to produce a realistic comparison of the feed value of baled silage in comparison to forage harvested clamp silage based on three important factors.

  1. Cost of production of silage systems.
  2. Available silage for feeding where field and ensiling losses have been accounted for.
  3. Livestock production (Dairy and Beef) from silage fed as bales or clamp.

The data was extracted from research trials conducted on different forage crops: high quality ryegrass silage, medium quality ryegrass silage and a mixture of ryegrass and red clover silage.

The 'Cost of silage production' figures are based on a comprehensive literature review in each of the countries reviewed. They assume standard contractor rates where labour is required and include reseeding, lime, fertiliser, additive, polythene, harvesting and storage costs.

Costs for forage harvested clamp silage is based on harvesting costs per ha, bale costs are based on individual bales prepared. Average DM content level of bale silage and number of layers are used for the calculations.

Financial benefits of using different layers of film have not been included in this model. Production of clamp silage does not include clamp depreciation costs or land rental values for silage areas.
Data from the UK model predicts that for high quality ryegrass silage (ME>11.5) the economic benefit in favour of baled silage is £11 (16€) per tonne of dry matter harvested for milk production. This would represent an increased income from milk sales of £11,000 (16,000€) from 1,000 tonnes of silage prepared and fed as bales compared to clamp silage.

For the UK calculations, the dairy economic benefit is based on a milk price of £0,18/litre (€0.29/litre), an average DM content level of bale silage of 33% and four layers of film per bale.
Swedish and German data is available on www.dowsilage.com/calculator

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