The objective of the study was to monitor the filling and emptying of bag silos at three research farms to determine the variation in density and losses in pressed bag silos. Twenty five bags were filled over the 2000 harvest season, and 15 of thosebags have been completely emptied. Dry matter (DM) densities in alfalfa silages were approximately 200 kg/m~3 when the crop was at 40 percent DM, and densities declined approx. 3 kg/m~3-percent DM in wetter crops. With one bagger, densities were 3 to 8percent lower in corn silage whereas densities were 16 to 35 percent higher in another bagger. Densities declined 5 kg/m~3-percent DM in wetter corn silages. Average DM losses were 8.4 percent gaseous/seepage loss and 5.8 percent spoilage loss for a total of 14.2 percent loss. The average spoilage and total losses were inflated by three bags with substantial spoilage (26 to 38 percent total loss). Removing those from the average reduced average total losses to 9.7 percent. Total losses increased with low feed out rates and with drier, more porous silages.
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