Having gone to the effort of ensuring you have baled below 16% moisture it would seem like common sense to store it in the best possible way so as to maintain the premium quality; so here are our top ten (well eleven) tips for storage.
1) Ideally the best form of storage for your Miscanthus is an indoor site with a dry floor. These could be grain sheds, cattle yards or pole sheds that have been emptied of cattle as they are turned out and the winter bedding used.
But if you have to store your bales outside remember:
Storage site
2) The storage site needs to be accessible all year round, whatever the weather so ensures sufficient access from the road for lorries and trailers to turn and stand, as well as enough room around them to load up.
3) Make sure stacks are kept on higher ground and not in areas prone to flooding; otherwise you run the risk of rainwater compromising the bottom bales.
Covering
4) To keep bottom bales clean & dry, roll a damp proof membrane across the bottom of the site before stacking. Alternatively, pallets or sleepers can be used to raise the bales off the floor.
5) To protect the bales at the top of the stack from rainfall ensure they are covered significantly. Use a stack sheet, held in place by ropes that are anchored low enough to enable tightening from the ground, as they will need to be regularly checked and tightened accordingly.
6) If you decide to use sacrificial wet bales from last year, put these on top of either the stack sheet or damp proof membrane to prevent water penetrating this year’s crop.
Stacking
7) It is important to check moisture levels as the bales come off the field to be stacked. This means that any bales over 16% can be stacked separately and that rough wet bales do not end up on loads accidently causing delays or extra haulage charges.
8) If there are wet bales, keep them separately and notify Terravesta on your harvest declaration.
9) Remember, long thin stacks will naturally ventilate better than square stacks, as a greater surface area is exposed.
10) When stacking full Hesston bales, keep the strings to the outside, as this will be how they are loaded onto the vehicles.