Since introducing a Film&Film approach to his silaging operation, dairy farmer Eurig Jenkins, has improved efficiency and silage quality.
Eurig Jenkins and his family are the fifth generation to farm at Pentrefelin Farm and are currently milking 425 New Zealand Friesians on their dairy farm near Lampeter in West Wales.
The Jenkins’ farm spans 780 acres, comprising a mix of owned and rented grazing and silage ground for their growing dairy herd.
Driving milk from forage
Focusing on milk from forage, the herd yields around 6,000 litres per cow, per year, achieving 4.8% fat content and 3.9% protein, and around 525kg of milk solids (MS) per cow, for their First Milk contract.
To achieve these figures, the family has always strived to produce milk from a home-grown forage diet fed to their spring block calving herd.
This has been enhanced in the last year by expanding their silage production. The farm has started to take three cuts instead of two, in an attempt to increase both quality and quantity.
Previous Grassland Farmer of the Year winner, Eurig says: “To increase our milk from forage, we implemented a multi-cut system to bolster our silage stocks and maintain high-quality, home-grown feed”.
“By cutting a few days earlier than usual, the grass has a longer window for regrowth, so although we pick up less each time, the extra cut we achieved more than made up for it,” he adds.
Moving to net replacement film (NRF)
For logistical reasons, the farm also bale’s all its silage, rather than putting it into a clamp, Eurig has become a big advocate for doing it this way for several other reasons.
“We rent some off-lying ground around the farm, so it’s easier to bale it rather than trying to get a forager and wagons in everywhere,” he says.
“Up until 2006, a contractor would do all the baling, until we took it partly in-house when we bought a Welger 235 baler.
“Then in 2012 we had our first of three McHale Fusion balers, with our fourth due to arrive in time for the 2025 season.
“Our most recent baler, a McHale Fusion 3 Plus, was our first step into using net replacement film and the Film&Film approach (NRF).
“When the baler was due to be renewed in 2021, our local McHale dealer was really pushing the benefits of a machine capable of using a NRF, but at first I wasn’t sure if it would stack up financially for our system.”
Enhancing silage quality and efficiency
After comparing his options, Eurig calculated that switching from applying net to film was going to offer the most value for money.
While the ends of the bale naturally receive more than the recommended six layers of coverage in the wrapping process, the barrel of the bale benefits from the additional layers of NRF protection.
With this principle, Eurig dropped from six to four layers of outer bale wrap, combined with four layers of Baletite to achieve the desired protection.
He says: “We’ve now done four seasons using Baletite, a Film&Film solution from Silotite, and have been really impressed with the results and how well the machine has held its resale value, with a new baler due for the 2025 season.
“The film has provided a more consistent shape bale compared to when we used net, making them easier to handle and stack.
“Using net generally allowed the bales to expand slightly, letting oxygen get in.”
The extra layers of film not only offer additional protection and compaction but also provide an air barrier to prevent air permeation and mould, maintaining a higher energy silage.
Eurig says: “Our silage analysis showed we were achieving extra quality from taking a third cut, so it was important we didn’t lose any of that during the ensiling process.”
Benefits of bales instead of clamp
The increased variability in weather throughout the season means many farms will face a variation in silage quality, depending on when it was cut.
But Eurig explains that for their operation, baling everything makes it easier to manage these unavoidable differences in quality.
He says: “It’s more straightforward to separate the variation in cuts, with bales from different cuts being stored separately.
“The herd grazes eight to nine months of the year, and we top up their diet with the baled silage as and when necessary, so we can be more specific about what we feed and when, without having to open up a whole pit.”
To calculate how many bales you can achieve per reel, use our online bale calculator.
Switching to a combi baler
While the main driver for Eurig’s change to a combi baler and Film&Film was the improvement to silage quality, he also points out the practical benefits he has seen from an operator perspective.
“I can do 45 bales an hour now compared to 30 since upgrading to a combi baler, and there’s less downtime when changing reels - the tractor is depreciating at the same rate whether it’s idling or not so that’s always a plus side,” he says.
“We bale more than 6,000 bales a year, 2,000 of which is contract work, and the customers have also noticed the difference in quality since changing to NRF.”
As well as using Baletite, Eurig has been using Silotite’s original box range of stretch film since the early days of taking on the baling operation.
“To reduce downtime even further, we’re looking to upgrade from the box product to the SilotitePro range.
“The 1800m reel is meant to increase productivity by a further 20%, with the added benefit of fully recyclable sleeve packaging for less waste,” he says.
Recycling on-farm plastic
Feeding 27 bales a day during the housed period, Eurig uses a Keltec Bale Slice to simplify and speed up the feeding process.
He says: “The system grabs, cuts and removes the plastic from the bale, all from the driver’s seat, making it easy to pull away.
“The Baletite peels away from the bale smoothly too, whereas net often gets caught in the silage.
“Recycling is that much easier now too, because Baletite can be recycled the same as bale wrap, unlike net, which needs to be split and disposed of separately.
“I expect regulations will tighten up soon on the recycling of farm plastics, so anything we can do now to get ahead of that and make our life easier is a bonus.”
To find out more about Silotite's agricultural solutions and how to recycle on-farm plastics, visit silotite.com/silotite-sustainability/
