Silage making

The start of a new clamp

Some of you may have noticed trailer loads of grass being pushed into a heap in a field opposite Daisy Made during the last few weeks.
This is the grass that Daisy and friends will be fed during the winter months when there is no grass growing in the fields.
To make the silage the grass is allowed to grow long and thick before we mow it and then a machine chops the rows of grass and blasts it into a trailer.
The chopped grass is delivered to the clamp site where an extremely skilled (guess who ;) ) man pushes it up into a long heap or clamp with a tractor and rolls it to push out all the air and make it firm.
The next step is to cover the clamp with a polythene sheet to make it air tight and put tyres on top of the sheet to hold it tightly down.
Once the clamp is air tight the grass inside will pickle itself and then shou keep all the way  through to the following spring to provide winter food for the cows.
Because the grass is still moist when we chop and clamp it silage making is much easier and faster than making hay which requires good weather to dry the grass. 
There is a saying.. 'Make hay while the sun shines',   We now say.. 'Make silage while its not raining'  

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A clamp nearly finished