Rangataua farmer to go into silage contracting

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 4, Issue 14, 2 September 1986, Page 10

Rangataua farmer to go into silage contracting

Mike Punch who farms at Rangataua has gone into business as a silage contractor. He has recently bought a feed wagon and will soon buy a fine-chop machine which prepares the grass for faster fermentation. He already has other equipment, such as tractors and mowers, which he used for haymaking. Mike and his brother, who operate their farm together. will be cutting their haymaking in half this

year, down from 10,000 bales to 5000, and putting the rest into silage. The reasons for this change are the better feed value of silage over hay and, in these difficult economic times, the reduced cost at half to two thirds that of hay.

Mike will be preparing silge during the two peak times of late November into December and late February into March, before the grass goes to seed. He already has about 130 hectares in silage contracts in the district booked up.

Mike will be making wilted silage, which is dry, rather than direct chop which is wet. The advantages are that fewer juices are leached away from the stack, it is not so boggy and weight is reduced.