Local company looks to introduce cost-effective silage bag

Johannesburg-based agriculture equipment supplier Addcon Africa Feed & Grain Additives is looking to introduce a new system for ensiling grain and silage in plastic bags at lower capital investments. Known as the farm bagger, developed by Germany-based agricultural company Budissa Bag Agroservices, this new system is more cost effective than the traditional bunker method of storing grain and silage.

Silage is compacted in the polyethylene farm bagger, which has a diameter of 2.7 m and a length of up to 90 m, using a silo press machine. The bag is filled with the help of a grain wagon at a rate of 300 t/h. A silage bag with a length of 75 m stores about 250 t of maize silage, allowing for a possible harvest of 3 ha/h of grain and silage.

Only one person is required to operate the machine and rear tipper trailer or the self-loading forage wagons for filling. After filling, the bags are tightly closed, immediately hermetically sealed, and covered with protection nets. Labour is significantly reduced when comparing farm baggers to bunker silos, which require compacting, covering bunker silos with plastic film and weighing down the silage with sandbags or old tyres, notes Addcon MD Klaus Oster.

In Europe, silage bagging has taken off at an unprecedented rate, says Budissa Bag Agroservices MD Dr Udo Weber. In 1993, no silage bagging was done in Europe; however, by 2013, more than seven-million tons of grain and silage was stored in bags containing 95% silage.

One of the main advantages for farmers or contractors is the cost saving in transport to a central bunker from farms 20 km to 25 km apart. Silage can be bagged on the spot, where it can be extracted for own consumption or sold to buyers. Separate bags can be used for low- or high-quality silage.

The cost for the harvesting and bagging equipment is about R1.2-million to handle a minimum of 10 000 t of maize, grass or lucerne a year. A 2.7 m by 75 m bag costs R7 500, while the cost of unloading equipment is about R300 000. Long-term rental options are also available from Addcon.