Silo is a conserved green mass

Silage is a very valuable food, especially for cattle. Quality of milk often depends on its quality. Therefore, its preparation and storage should be approached with the utmost responsibility. This applies to all stages, from the preparation of the pit to the excavation.

Silage is either a pressed green mass of annual or perennial plants, cereals, corn, or a mash of potato tubers, frozen or infested with fungal diseases, and therefore unfit for food. Mowing grass before laying in the pit must necessarily be crushed. In this case, thin-stem plants are cut or cut into parts not less than 3-4 cm long. Pipe-like plants, such as sunflower, corn, etc., are not less than 5-6 cm.

Preliminarily, of course, you need to prepare a pit. Its depth should be about 2.5 m. Width - no more than 3.5 m. The length can be any. The walls of the pit are inclined, and the corners are rounded. Silage is a food that can easily bend during cooking. In this case, it is not allowed to feed his cattle. The rotten silage will only be suitable for compost. Therefore it is very important to compact the mass as tightly as possible.

After the pit is dug, it is necessary to cover its walls with a thick enough layer of clay, or even brick it and concrete it with cement mortar mixed with lime. The weight is laid in layers with a rammer of each. Silo harvesting in the case when very juicy grasses are used (potato tops, young corn stalks, etc.) is made with the addition of chopped straw in an amount of about 10% of the total weight.

When used for siloing root crops, the pit is not completely filled. The fact is that potatoes wander very intensely. As a result, the mass increases somewhat in volume. The grass is pawned and rammed until the pit is filled to the brim. This condition must be fulfilled. Otherwise, in the future, rain or melt water will fall into the pit, which is highly undesirable.

The bookmark should be produced in no more than 1-2 days. Otherwise, the food will turn out to be substandard. After a while, the pressed grass will settle. If the ramming was done correctly, the shrinkage should be no more than 10%. Also, no later than in 1-2 days, the pit will need to be supplemented to the brim.

Since silage is a green mass fermented without air, it should be sealed. In this case, a polyethylene film is usually used. The most important thing is that the pit should be sheltered as carefully as possible. The edges of polyethylene are covered with earth. Sometimes a layer of clay (10 cm) is used instead of the film. In this case, it is necessary to grease the edges after shrinkage, since the "lid" in this place will necessarily crack.

Storage of silage in winter also involves covering the pit with a straw layer of 30 cm (using a film) or a 40 cm layer of earth (using clay). If this is not done, the food can freeze.

Remove the fermented mass must be very carefully, cutting out the piece in such a way as not to loosen the remaining layers from the side and from below. After excavation, the pit must again be covered with a film and the edges are again sprinkled.