The benefits of Berry Global’s Silotite® and Baletite® films, known together as Film&Film®, have been instrumental in helping a Finnish dairy farm to achieve consistent protection for its silage.
The Wentjärvi farm in Kokkola, Finland, is owned by Mikael & Anders Wentjärvi. With 185 cattle producing around 900,000 litres of milk per year, the Wentjärvi family needs a substantial amount of silage – around 3,000 bales per year – to feed the herd during the year.
Understanding the benefits of optimally preserved silage, the farm always looks for suppliers and machinery that can ensure high quality and efficiency and uses two Lely robots as well as a Pöttinger Impress 3160 VC pro baler. The choice of the Film&Film solution – known for producing high-quality silage, reflects the same quest for excellence.
“We’ve used baler film for a long time already and tried out several brands in both machinery and film. We’ve found out that Baletite works in the most efficient and problem-free way. The current combination of Pöttinger Impress 3160 VC pro and Baletite 20µm has worked best for our needs,” explained Mikael Wentjärvi.
A key requirement for the Wentjärvi farm is the ability of the film in protecting silage to reduce losses in fodder due to mould build-up. This is especially important because the farm does not use protective additives in the fodder to maintain the standards of their milk production.
It is here that Film&Film provides a real benefit. “The bales are very dense and heavy; even if we get a hole in the bale we don’t need to worry about the mould,” confirmed Mikael.
Another advantage is the convenience of the dual-wrap construction, which removes the need for netting. “The baler film makes the handling a lot easier,” added Mikael. “Especially during the winter, the opening is much easier when baler film has been used instead of net and that’s a big advantage here in the North.”
As Film&Film is a mono-material solution, the Wentjärvi family benefits from ease of recycling after use. “We are collecting the used plastic in a container at our farm and it’s a big advantage that we only need to recycle one material, there’s no need to separate net and film for storage and collection,” Mikael noted. Reduction of waste and better recyclability are both key elements of Berry agriculture's 5 pillar sustainability programme.
Since using Film&Film, the Wentjärvis have become unofficial ambassadors for the product, recommending it to other farmers in the region. “We’ve shared our experiences and answered a lot of questions, and I think this has had an impact on other farmers’ decisions to go to Film&Film. We’ve only had good feedback from both the fellow farmers and the dairy,” concluded Mikael.
