Would you try Lawn Clipping Silage?

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Ycc

Ycc

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The University of Wyoming conducted a very successful lawn clipping silage trial this spring. The Yearlings all gained the same as the conventional feed pen yearlings. Would you try it for 30 days if you could find some?
 
i tried making some years ago....probably too wet....
I had a bagger and had th enotion to dump the clippings in plastic barrels....
fermented okay but smelled sour....
cattle would not eat it....
was not enough volume to justify the work for a product they would not eat.....
adding exra steps like clipping wilting and then collecting would have been too much labor....
I started putting up a single polywire around outlying areas of the lawn and grazing them.....
finally got the wife to allow me to let Pete graze around the house....
she gives him cookies every night....
 
I have actually devoted a lot of time to thinking about grass clipping over the years. I have a 3.25 acre yard. I would love to know how much forage that 3.25 acres generates in a growing season. I bet it would shock me. I dont think it would be practical to collect your own clippings. If someone had access to large amounts, and it was free, I would say go for it.
 
Bigfoot":30ageafz said:
I have actually devoted a lot of time to thinking about grass clipping over the years. I have a 3.25 acre yard. I would love to know how much forage that 3.25 acres generates in a growing season. I bet it would shock me. I dont think it would be practical to collect your own clippings. If someone had access to large amounts, and it was free, I would say go for it.
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I have access to about 2-3 dumptruck loads a week but my only issue with that is all the chemicals that are put on the lawns. Most of the homes get sprayed frequently for insects. mosquitos etc. It also has various types of grass in the mix does it matter which type of grass you use?
 
skyhightree1":2amc1180 said:
Bigfoot":2amc1180 said:
I have actually devoted a lot of time to thinking about grass clipping over the years. I have a 3.25 acre yard. I would love to know how much forage that 3.25 acres generates in a growing season. I bet it would shock me. I dont think it would be practical to collect your own clippings. If someone had access to large amounts, and it was free, I would say go for it.
Click to expand...

I have access to about 2-3 dumptruck loads a week but my only issue with that is all the chemicals that are put on the lawns. Most of the homes get sprayed frequently for insects. mosquitos etc. It also has various types of grass in the mix does it matter which type of grass you use?
Click to expand...

That would be my concern too.
 
I have close to two acres of lawn, I been feeding lawn clipping for years. Chemicals is the only thing from getting free clippings. No chemicals on my lawn, I don't even water it...... Ever. Cows love fresh clippings, they will eagerly come off good pasture if they hear the mower and eat it up. If the clippings set and ferment they won't touch them.
 
Alan":1ef6ipio said:
I have close to two acres of lawn, I been feeding lawn clipping for years. Chemicals is the only thing from getting free clippings. No chemicals on my lawn, I don't even water it...... Ever. Cows love fresh clippings, they will eagerly come off good pasture if they hear the mower and eat it up. If the clippings set and ferment they won't touch them.
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my experience as well....they will munch out on fresh clippings....would not touch fermented stuff.
 
My cows eat fresh lawn clippings. When I was a kid my Dad's cows ate lawn clippings. I have always thought about getting them from the lawn maintance people around here. There is a lot of them and they pay tipping fees to get rid of the clippings. I think if you offered to take them away free you would get several dump truck loads a day. The chemicals is a concern and so is brush trimmings and leafs off potentially poison plants. I am less concern about the chemicals because people very rarely spray their lawns here. That is a regional thing. I would really like to try it but it is the handling the volume of material that you would need to do that has always been my stopping point.
 
I'm somewhat a Pioneering Expert in the area of Lawn Clipping Silage.

1. Kentucky Bluegrass can product a about ton of clippings /acre/week.

2. Pesticides are not only proven to degrade during the ensiling process but the most common lawn herbicides like trimec types (2,4-D, dicamba, MCPP) do not have grazing restrictions which means the lawn could be sprayed and animals could be turned out on the turf after it dries to graze. Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado actually did this experiment ( http://biopacr.com/uploads/1Evaluation_of_Grass_Clippings_as_a_Feed_Source_for_Sheep.pdfl).

3. Indeed, small batches <500 pounds or monstrous batches like what would be required in a "Silage PIT" situation like corn or grain silage, doesn't work because the lawn clippings required to fill a pit must be harvested over a few days and many of the clipping begin to compost. I guess it's like tossing some spoiled burger into a pot of chili, it ruins the entire batch.

4. I however only have experience with Cool season grasses like bluegrass, chewing & fine fescues and K-31

5. The problem with small batches like those that use 55 gallon barrels is a consistent pack.

Todd
 
For small amounts, something similar to a trash compactor might be the answer. Probably need to do a separate batch for each day, maybe 2 days together max. Would take a little experimentation. Need a minimum of about a month to ensile properly. Think it could be a viable feed source if the logistics and economics were right.
 
Like any other "silage" you have to have a large enough volume to put it into some sort of silage pit, bag or whatever compress it and eliminate oxygen immediately, otherwise it will simply dry out, mold and rot. Know a couple of dairymen that put up coastal bermuda silage in the thousands of tons every year and it works well but they have enough of it to work with and put it up conventionally in pits etc. and pack tightly. Just don't think you'll be able to get anything useable out of a few hundred pounds of grass clippings. Why not just feed it as "green chop"??
 
I understand MSMA's active ingredient is/was arsenic. Understand it did not breakdown in environment. MSMA was removed or delisted a few years back. Uncertain if it grows into the grass or if it is just a contact issue if levels get too high. Seems like a lot of "if's" when you don't know what is in the grass that is hauled in? If heavily fertilized as some yards might be and then water is lacking, may see high nitrate levels. Also a concern.
 
Phil in Tupelo":2v6n0dwx said:
I understand MSMA's active ingredient is/was arsenic. Understand it did not breakdown in environment. MSMA was removed or delisted a few years back. Uncertain if it grows into the grass or if it is just a contact issue if levels get too high. Seems like a lot of "if's" when you don't know what is in the grass that is hauled in? If heavily fertilized as some yards might be and then water is lacking, may see high nitrate levels. Also a concern.
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I doubt that would be a problem.....If it's dry enough to have nitrates I doubt it would need mowing.
 
TexasBred":3fxpbkkc said:
Like any other "silage" you have to have a large enough volume to put it into some sort of silage pit, bag or whatever compress it and eliminate oxygen immediately, otherwise it will simply dry out, mold and rot. Know a couple of dairymen that put up coastal bermuda silage in the thousands of tons every year and it works well but they have enough of it to work with and put it up conventionally in pits etc. and pack tightly. Just don't think you'll be able to get anything useable out of a few hundred pounds of grass clippings. Why not just feed it as "green chop"??
Click to expand...
Green chop was kind of what I was thinking. Get it hauled in right to the pasture, dump it on the ground and let 'em at it. Stretch the pasture, bring in some free fertility and feed. It would be great if you could store it, but absent that you could stockpile pastures, or cut more hay. Doesn't sound like a bad way of renovating some tired pasture ground to me.
 
My boys and I decided to try it this spring just to experiment they put it in as I kept stomping on it and it worked great two months later we opened it up and it smelt sweet with no spoiling. The cattle went crazy for it. the only problem was in the summer heat after I unsealed the barrel it did start to spoil so I needed to feed it up fast I have no idea to how it would have tested for feed value though
 
I am thinking that a small Ag-bagger would work. If you haven't seem them, they make a long sausage like bag of silage. The local city phone book has 109 listings under the heading "Lawn and grounds maintenance". I know they don't all mow lawns but a lot of them do and they have to pay to dump the clippings. I am thinking that they could easily fill 10 feet or more of silage per day into an Ag-bagger. The problem is the logistics of getting the clippings to my place rather than the dump.
 
I got to confess: I gave lawn clippings and lawn clipping silage to the pigs this year.
Ton of grass clippings? No problem! 4 acre yard at the house, yard at the house on the farm and another yard around the shop.
 

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