Due to the recent suggested shortage of film and resulting increased film costs, plus suggestions that six layers of film should be used, wrapped round bale silage is rapidly becoming a far from cheap means of forage conservation.
Latest costings from the Profitable Farming Company highlight the fact that helped by rises in the price of film, wrapped bale silage at £44.64/t DM is the most expensive way to conserve forage when compared to clamped silage (£36.14/t DM) or preservative treated hay using Baler's Choice (£32.05/t DM).
"Baling should be a cheap and easy means of preserving grass, but the increasing cost of film wrap, aside from film disposal problems, mean this is far from the case," states Richard Snell of the Profitable Farming Company. "One of the great strengths of hay is that it is cheap to produce and provides a high quality source of long fibre. By using a modern preservative system such as Baler's Choice weather is less of a problem."
As the table comparing second cut options below indicates, wrapped large bale silage is around £20/tonne of dry matter more expensive than preservative treated hay and nearly £17/t DM more than clamp silage.
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Film and wrapping costs at £2.50 for a four-layer wrapped bale account for a fair proportion of this increased cost, rising by £1.25 and £2.25 for six and eight layers respectively, but higher moisture contents also contribute towards greater haulage and handling costs.
By comparison, even though hay made using the Baler's Choice buffered propionic acid based preservative system will incur greater tedding costs, the higher dry matter and resultant reduced number of bales per acre allied to one less operation plus reduced transport, compensate for this.
