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111-402: Silage is usually made from grass crops including maize , sorghum or other cereals , using the entire green plant (not just the grain). Specific terms may be used for silage made from particular crops: oatlage for oats, haylage for alfalfa ( haylage may also refer to high dry matter silage made from hay ). Using the same technique as the process for making sauerkraut , green fodder

222-439: A bale grab on a tractor, a special front loader consisting of many hydraulically powered downward-pointing curved spikes. The square eight will then be stacked, either on a trailer for transport or in a roughly cubic field stack eight or ten layers high. This cube may then be transported by a large machine attached to the three-point hitch behind a tractor, which clamps the sides of the cube and lifts it bodily. Prior to 1937,

333-625: A ring feeder . In 1978, Hesston introduced the first "large square baler", capable of compacting hay into more easily transported large square bales that could be stacked and tarped in the field (to protect them from rain) or loaded on trucks or containers for trucking or export. Depending upon the baler, these bales can weigh from 1,000 to 2,200 pounds (450 to 1,000 kg) for a 3 ft × 3 ft × 9 ft (0.91 m × 0.91 m × 2.74 m) or 3 ft × 4 ft × 9 ft (0.91 m × 1.22 m × 2.74 m) bale (versus 900 pounds [410 kg] for

444-499: A sod -forming perennial grass used in agriculture is Thinopyrum intermedium . Grasses are used as raw material for a multitude of purposes, including construction and in the composition of building materials such as cob , for insulation, in the manufacture of paper and board such as oriented structural straw board . Grass fiber can be used for making paper , biofuel production, nonwoven fabrics, and as replacement for glass fibers used in reinforced plastics. Bamboo scaffolding

555-405: A 3-or-4-foot [0.91 or 1.22 m] round bale). As the pickup revolves just above the ground surface, the tines pick up and feed the hay into the flake forming chamber, where a "flake" of hay is formed before being pushed up into the path of the plunger, which then compresses it with great force (200 to 750 kilonewtons or 45,000 to 169,000 pounds-force, depending on model) against the existing bale in

666-679: A John Deere grain binder; in 1938, Edwin Nolt filed a patent for an improved version that was more reliable. The first round baler was probably invented in the late 19th century and one was shown in Paris by Pilter (as illustrated by Michael Williams in Steam Power in Agriculture: Blandford, 1977). This was a portable machine designed for use with threshing machines. The most common type of baler in industrialized countries today

777-437: A bundle and ejected onto the ground. These bundles are then handled with spears, grabs, or pallet forks. They are of ideal dimensions for filling van trailers. Bale Accumulators: Typically these are attached directly to the baler and arrange the small square bales into groups to be retrieved with a "bale grabber" or "bale grab" mounted on a loader . There are a number of different methods employed by these machines to arrange

888-450: A large round bale. The cellist, 62, died instantly when the 600-kilogram (1,300 lb) bale fell from a tractor on nearby farmland before rolling onto the road and crushing his van. A large round bale can be directly used for feeding animals by placing it in a feeding area, tipping it over, removing the bale wrap, and placing a protective ring (a ring feeder ) around the outside so that animals will not walk on hay that has been peeled off

999-407: A mechanism on the baler, commonly either a "thrower" (parallel high-speed drive belts which throw the bale into the wagon) or a "kicker" (mechanical arm which throws the bale into the wagon). In the case of a thrower or kicker, the wagon has high walls on the left, right, and back sides and a short wall on the front side to contain the randomly piled bales. This process continues as long as the material

1110-403: A narrow tube to the top of a tower silo . The crops most often used for ensilage are the ordinary grasses, clovers , alfalfa , vetches , oats , rye and maize . Many crops have ensilaging potential, including potatoes and various weeds , notably spurrey such as Spergula arvensis . Silage must be made from plant material with a suitable moisture content: about 50% to 60% depending on

1221-584: A photosynthetic pathway, linked to specialized Kranz leaf anatomy , which allows for increased water use efficiency , rendering them better adapted to hot, arid environments. The C3 grasses are referred to as "cool-season" grasses, while the C4 plants are considered "warm-season" grasses. Although the C4 species are all in the PACMAD clade (see diagram below), it seems that various forms of C4 have arisen some twenty or more times, in various subfamilies or genera. In

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1332-508: A research topic for a master thesis. Over the next year, Buchele and Haverdink developed a new design for a large round baler, completed and tested in 1966, and thereafter dubbed the Buchele–Haverdink large round baler. The large round bales were about 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) in diameter, 2 meters (6.6 feet) long, and they weighed about 270 kilograms (600 pounds) after they dried – about 80 kg/m 5 lb/ft . The design

1443-481: A result of deficient hygiene in silage production and could end in dairy products. Ensilage can be substituted for root crops . Bulk silage is commonly fed to dairy cattle , while baled silage tends to be used for beef cattle , sheep and horses . The advantages of silage as animal feed are several: Silage may be used for anaerobic digestion. Fish silage is a method used for conserving by-products from fishing for later use as feed in fish farming . This way,

1554-544: A round baler after the design of the A-C Roto-Baler, and the Vermeer Company began selling its model 605 – the first modern round baler. The Vermeer design used belts to compact hay into a cylindrical shape as is seen today. In the early 1980s, collaboration between Walterscheid and Vermeer produced the first effective uses of CV joints in balers, and later in other farm machinery. Due to

1665-596: A smaller part of the vegetation in almost every other terrestrial habitat. Grass-dominated biomes are called grasslands. If only large, contiguous areas of grasslands are counted, these biomes cover 31% of the planet's land. Grasslands include pampas , steppes , and prairies . Grasses provide food to many grazing mammals, as well as to many species of butterflies and moths . Many types of animals eat grass as their main source of food, and are called graminivores – these include cattle , sheep , horses , rabbits and many invertebrates , such as grasshoppers and

1776-448: A smaller proportion is changed, but they become less digestible . If the fermentation process is poorly managed, sour silage acquires an unpleasant odour due to excess production of ammonia or butyric acid (the latter is responsible for the smell of rancid butter). In the past, the fermentation was conducted by indigenous microorganisms, but, today, some bulk silage is inoculated with specific microorganisms to speed fermentation or improve

1887-424: A special pincer attachment on the front loader of a tractor, which does not damage the film seal. They can also be moved using a standard bale spike, but this punctures the airtight seal, and the hole in the film must be repaired after each move. Plastic-wrapped bales must be unwrapped before being fed to livestock to prevent accidental ingestion of the plastic. Like round hay bales, silage bales are usually fed using

1998-402: A ton or more, large round bales require special transport and moving equipment. The most important tool for large round bale handling is the bale spear or spike, which is usually mounted on the back of a tractor or the front of a skid-steer . It is inserted into the approximate center of the round bale, then lifted and the bale is hauled away. Once at the destination, the bale is set down, and

2109-910: A variety that include grasses that are related to modern rice and bamboo . Grasses have adapted to conditions in lush rain forests , dry deserts , cold mountains and even intertidal habitats , and are currently the most widespread plant type; grass is a valuable source of food and energy for all sorts of wildlife. A cladogram shows subfamilies and approximate species numbers in brackets: Chloridoideae (1600) Danthonioideae (300) Micrairoideae (200) Arundinoideae (50) Panicoideae (3250) Aristidoideae (350) Oryzoideae (110) Bambusoideae – bamboos (1450) Pooideae (3850) Puelioideae (11) Pharoideae (13) Anomochlooideae (4) Before 2005, fossil findings indicated that grasses evolved around 55 million years ago. Finds of grass-like phytoliths in Cretaceous dinosaur coprolites from

2220-473: Is a grass used as a culinary herb for its citrus-like flavor and scent. Many species of grass are grown as pasture for foraging or as fodder for prescribed livestock feeds, particularly in the case of cattle , horses , and sheep . Such grasses may be cut and stored for later feeding, especially for the winter, in the form of bales of hay or straw , or in silos as silage . Straw (and sometimes hay) may also be used as bedding for animals. An example of

2331-401: Is a hydraulically driven implement attached to the end of a tractor's bucket loader. When the hydraulic cylinder is extended, the fork clamps downward toward the bucket, much like a closing hand. To move a large round bale, the tractor approaches the bale from the side and places the bucket underneath the bale. The fork is then clamped down across the top of the bale, and the bucket is lifted with

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2442-470: Is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses . It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos , the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns and pasture . The latter are commonly referred to collectively as grass . With around 780 genera and around 12,000 species, the Poaceae is the fifth-largest plant family , following

2553-665: Is a piece of farm machinery used to compress a cut and raked crop (such as hay , cotton , flax straw , salt marsh hay, or silage ) into compact bales that are easy to handle, transport, and store. Often, bales are configured to dry and preserve some intrinsic (e.g. the nutritional) value of the plants bundled. Different types of balers are commonly used, each producing a different type of bale – rectangular or cylindrical, of various sizes, bound with twine , strapping , netting , or wire . Industrial balers are also used in material recycling facilities , primarily for baling metal, plastic, or paper for transport. Before

2664-570: Is able to withstand typhoon-force winds that would break steel scaffolding. Larger bamboos and Arundo donax have stout culms that can be used in a manner similar to timber, Arundo is used to make reeds for woodwind instruments , and bamboo is used for innumerable implements. Phragmites australis (common reed) is important for thatching and wall construction of homes in Africa. Grasses are used in water treatment systems, in wetland conservation and land reclamation , and used to lessen

2775-677: Is also a significant factor in farmers deciding to continue putting up square bales, as they make feeding and bedding in confined areas (stables, barns, etc.) much more manageable and thus command a higher market value per ton. The automatic baler for small square bales took on most of its present form in 1938, with the first baler sold as Arthur S. Young's Automaton Baler. It was manufactured in small numbers until New Holland Ag acquired it. In Europe, as early as 1939, both Claas of Germany and Rousseau SA of France had automatic twine-tying pick-up balers. Most of these produced low-density bales, however. The first successful pick-up balers were made by

2886-413: Is an aerobic phase in which the trapped oxygen is consumed. How closely the fodder is packed determines the nature of the resulting silage by regulating the chemical reactions that occur in the stack. When closely packed, the supply of oxygen is limited, and the attendant acid fermentation brings about decomposition of the carbohydrates present into acetic , butyric and lactic acids. This product

2997-460: Is approximately US$ 5 per bale. An alternative form of wrapping uses the same type of bale placed on a bale wrapper , consisting of pair of rollers on a turntable mounted on the three-point linkage of a tractor. It is then spun about two axes while being wrapped in several layers of cling-wrap plastic film. This covers the ends and sides of the bale in one operation, thus sealing it separately from other bales. The bales are then moved or stacked using

3108-433: Is cut and partly dried until it contains 30–40% moisture (much drier than bulk silage, but too damp to be stored as dry hay). It is then made into large bales which are wrapped tightly in plastic to exclude air. The plastic may wrap the whole of each cylindrical or cuboid bale, or be wrapped around only the curved sides of a cylindrical bale, leaving the ends uncovered. In this case, the bales are placed tightly end to end on

3219-786: Is discharged. The bales are complete at this stage, but they may also be wrapped in plastic sheeting by a bale wrapper , either to keep hay dry when stored outside or convert damp grass into silage . Variable-chamber large round balers typically produce bales from 48 to 72 inches (120 to 180 cm) in diameter and up to 60 inches (150 cm) in width. The bales can weigh anywhere from 1,100 to 2,200 pounds (500 to 1,000 kg), depending upon size, material, and moisture content . Common modern small round balers (also called "mini round balers") produce bales 20 to 22 inches (51 to 56 cm) in diameter and 20.5 to 28 inches (52 to 71 cm) in width, generally weighing from 40 to 55 pounds (18 to 25 kg). Originally conceived by Ummo Luebben circa 1910,

3330-949: Is for piecing together historical landscapes and weather patterns, considering other factors such as genetic material amount might also affect pollen size. Despite these challenges, new techniques in Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and improved statistical methods are now helping to better identify these similar-looking pollen types. Grasses are the primary plants used in lawns, which themselves derive from grazed grasslands in Europe. They also provide an important means of erosion control (e.g., along roadsides), especially on sloping land. Grass lawns are an important covering of playing surfaces in many sports, including football (soccer) , American football , tennis , golf , cricket , softball and baseball . Baler A baler or hay baler

3441-464: Is in the bale chamber and there is twine to tie the bales. This form of bale is not used much in large-scale commercial agriculture because the efficiency and speed of large bales are higher. However, it has some popularity in small-scale, low-mechanization agriculture and horse-keeping. Besides using simpler machinery and being easy to handle, these small bales can also be used for insulation and building materials in straw-bale construction . Convenience

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3552-557: Is less common today. It is primarily used on small acreages where large equipment is impractical and hay production for small operations, particularly horse owners who may not have access to the specialized feeding machinery used for larger bales. Each bale is about 14 by 18 by 34–40 inches (36 cm × 46 cm × 86 cm–102 cm). The bales are usually wrapped with two, sometimes three, or more strands of knotted twine. The bales are light enough for one person to handle, about 45 to 60 pounds (20 to 27 kg), depending upon

3663-606: Is linked to crop improvement, since meiotic recombination is an important component of plant breeding . Unlike in animals, the specification of both male and female plant germlines occurs late in development during flowering. The transition from the sporophyte phase to the gametophyte state is initiated by meiotic entry. Grasses are, in human terms, perhaps the most economically important plant family. Their economic importance stems from several areas, including food production, industry, and lawns . They have been grown as food for domesticated animals for up to 6,000 years and

3774-421: Is made with a special machine which wraps the bales as they are pushed through a rotating hoop which applies the bale wrap to the outside of the bales (round or square) in a continuous wrap. The machine places the bales on the ground after wrapping by moving forward slowly during the wrapping process. Haylage sometimes refers to high dry matter silage of around 40% to 60%, typically made from hay . Horse haylage

3885-490: Is named sour silage. If the fodder is unchaffed and loosely packed, or the silo is built gradually, oxidation proceeds more rapidly and the temperature rises; if the mass is compressed when the temperature is 60–70 °C (140–160 °F), the action ceases and sweet silage results. The nitrogenous ingredients of the fodder also change: in making sour silage, as much as one-third of the albuminoids may be converted into amino and ammonium compounds; in making sweet silage,

3996-446: Is particularly the case with large round bales; their size makes them difficult to flip, so it may not be feasible to flip many of them onto the flat surface for transport and then re-position them on the round surface at the destination. One option that works with both large and small round bales is to equip the flat-bed trailer with guard rails at either end, which prevent bales from rolling either forward or backward. Another solution

4107-516: Is the saddle wagon , which has closely spaced rounded saddles or support posts in which round bales sit. The tall sides of each saddle prevent the bales from rolling around while on the wagon, as the bale settles down in between posts. On 3 September 2010, on the A381 in Halwell near Totnes , Devon , England, an early member of British rock group ELO Mike Edwards was killed when his van was crushed by

4218-402: Is the round baler. It produces cylinder-shaped "round" or "rolled" bales. The design has a "thatched roof" effect that withstands weather. Grass is rolled up inside the baler using rubberized belts, fixed rollers, or a combination of the two. When the bale reaches a predetermined size, either netting or twine is wrapped around it to hold its shape. The back of the baler swings open, and the bale

4329-441: Is usually 60% to 70% dry matter, made in small bales or larger bales. Handling of wrapped bales is most often with some type of gripper that squeezes the plastic-covered bale between two metal parts to avoid puncturing the plastic. Simple fixed versions are available for round bales which are made of two shaped pipes or tubes spaced apart to slide under the sides of the bale, but when lifted will not let it slip through. Often used on

4440-454: The Aristida genus for example, one species ( A. longifolia ) is C3 but the approximately 300 other species are C4. As another example, the whole tribe of Andropogoneae , which includes maize , sorghum , sugar cane , " Job's tears ", and bluestem grasses , is C4. Around 46 percent of grass species are C4 plants. The name Poaceae was given by John Hendley Barnhart in 1895, based on

4551-720: The Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous approximately 113–100 million years ago, which were found to belong to primitive lineages within Poaceae, similar in position to the Anomochlooideae. These are currently the oldest known grass fossils. The relationships among the three subfamilies Bambusoideae, Oryzoideae and Pooideae in the BOP clade have been resolved: Bambusoideae and Pooideae are more closely related to each other than to Oryzoideae. This separation occurred within

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4662-508: The Americas ). Sugarcane is the major source of sugar production. Additional food uses of sugarcane include sprouted grain , shoots , and rhizomes , and in drink they include sugarcane juice and plant milk , as well as rum , beer , whisky , and vodka . Bamboo shoots are used in numerous Asian dishes and broths, and are available in supermarkets in various sliced forms, in both fresh, fermented and canned versions. Lemongrass

4773-556: The Asteraceae , Orchidaceae , Fabaceae and Rubiaceae . The Poaceae are the most economically important plant family, providing staple foods from domesticated cereal crops such as maize , wheat , rice , oats , barley , and millet for people and as feed for meat-producing animals . They provide, through direct human consumption, just over one-half (51%) of all dietary energy; rice provides 20%, wheat supplies 20%, maize (corn) 5.5%, and other grains 6%. Some members of

4884-458: The Cenozoic contributed to the spread of grasses. Without large grazers, fire-cleared areas are quickly colonized by grasses, and with enough rain, tree seedlings. Trees eventually outcompete most grasses. Trampling grazers kill seedling trees but not grasses. Sexual reproduction and meiosis have been studied in rice , maize , wheat and barley . Meiosis research in these crop species

4995-422: The ligule lies at the junction between sheath and blade, preventing water or insects from penetrating into the sheath. Flowers of Poaceae are characteristically arranged in spikelets , each having one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes . The part of the spikelet that bears the florets is called the rachilla. A spikelet consists of two (or sometimes fewer) bracts at

5106-437: The 19th century, hay was cut by hand and most typically stored in haystacks using hay forks to rake and gather the scythed grasses into optimally sized heaps – neither too large, promoting conditions favorable for spontaneous combustion , nor too small, which would mean much of the pile is susceptible to rotting. These haystacks lifted most of the plant fibers up off the ground, letting air in and water drain out, so

5217-577: The Ann Arbor Company in 1929. Ann Arbor was acquired by the Oliver Farm Equipment Company in 1943. Despite their head start on the rest of the field, no Ann Arbor balers carried automatic knotters or twisters and Oliver did not produce its own automatic tying baler until 1949. In the 1940s most farmers would bale hay in the field with a small tractor with 20 or less horsepower, and the tied bales would be dropped onto

5328-562: The Poaceae are used as building materials ( bamboo , thatch , and straw ); others can provide a source of biofuel , primarily via the conversion of maize to ethanol . Grasses have stems that are hollow except at the nodes and narrow alternate leaves borne in two ranks. The lower part of each leaf encloses the stem, forming a leaf-sheath. The leaf grows from the base of the blade, an adaptation allowing it to cope with frequent grazing. Grasslands such as savannah and prairie where grasses are dominant are estimated to constitute 40.5% of

5439-640: The United States. In the summer of 1969, the Australian Econ Fodder Roller baler came out, a design that made a 135 kg (298 lb) ground-rolled bale. In September of that same year, The Hawkbilt Company of Vinton, Iowa, contacted Dr. Buchele about his design, then fabricated a large ground-rolling round baler which baled hay that had been laid out in a windrow , and began manufacturing large round balers in 1970. In 1972, Gary Vermeer of Pella, Iowa, designed and fabricated

5550-599: The back of a flatbed trailer. The rectangular shape also saves space and allows a complete solid slab of hay to be stacked for transport and storage. Most balers allow adjustment of length and it is common to produce bales of twice the width, allowing stacks with brick-like alternating groups overlapping the row below at right angles, creating a strong structure. They are well-suited for large-scale livestock feedlot or dairy operations, where many tons of feed are rationed every hour. Most often, they are baled small enough that one person can carry or toss them where needed. Due to

5661-417: The bale before reapplying the tension to the sheeting. These bales are placed in a long continuous row, with each wrapped bale pressed firmly against all the other bales in the row before being set down onto the ground. The plastic wrap on the ends of each bale sticks together to seal out air and moisture, protecting the silage from the elements. The end-bales are hand-sealed with strips of cling plastic across

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5772-405: The bale chamber, which runs the length of one side of the baler (usually the left-hand side when viewed from the rear) in offset balers. Balers like Hesston models use an in-line system where the hay goes straight through from the pickup to the flake chamber to the plunger and bale-forming chamber. A combination plunger and knife move back and forth in the front of this chamber, with the knife closing

5883-402: The bale has moved entirely onto the pan, the pan suddenly pops up, pushed by a large hydraulic cylinder , and tosses the bale up into the wagon like a catapult . The pan-thrower method puts much less stress on the bales than the belt-thrower. The friction belts of the belt-thrower stress the twine and knots as they grip the bale and occasionally cause bales to break apart in the thrower or when

5994-414: The bale in tow. Grab hooks installed on the bucket of a tractor are another tool used to handle round bales, and can be done by a farmer with welding skills by welding two hooks and a heavy chain to the outside top of a tractor front loader bucket. The rounded surface of round bales poses a challenge for long-haul, flat-bed transport, as they could roll off of the flat surface if not properly supported. This

6105-404: The bale wagon. The bale wagon was modified from a flatbed into a three-sided skeleton frame open at the front to act as a catcher's net for the thrown bales. As tractor horsepower increased, the thrower-baler's next innovation was the hydraulic tossing baler. This employs a flat pan behind the bale knotter. As bales advance out the back of the baler, they are pushed onto the pan one at a time. When

6216-425: The bale, the tension is actively adjusted with a knob on the end of the roll, which squeezes the ends of the roll in the shuttle. In the example wrapping video, the operator is attempting to use high tension to get a flat, smooth seal on the right end. However, the tension increases too much and the plastic tears off. The operator recovers by quickly loosening the tension and allows the plastic to feed out halfway around

6327-449: The baler in a bale sledge dragged behind the baler. This has four channels, controlled by automatic mechanical balances, catches, and springs, which sort each bale into its place in a square eight . When the sledge is full, a catch is tripped automatically, and a door at the rear opens to leave the eight lying neatly together on the ground. These may be picked up individually and loaded by hand, or they may be picked up all eight together by

6438-415: The baler with the strings facing sideways. The stacker will drive up to each bale, pick it up, and set it on a three-bale-wide table (the strings are now facing upwards). Once three bales are on the table, the table lifts up and back, causing the three bales to face strings to the side again; this happens three more times until there are 16 bales on the main table. This table will lift like the smaller one, and

6549-596: The bales into groups. One method is to allow up to three bales to be pushed in line onto a tray that is then emptied sideways by a hydraulically driven push bar onto a platform. After four or five such pushes, a group is made of 8, 10 12, or 15 bales and the platform is emptied onto the ground. Another, more efficient method that doesn't use hydraulics, is to use a system of levers and gates to guide bales into channels. These can have four, five, or six channels and accommodate two or three bales per channel. This method can make groups of 4, 8, 10, 12, 15 or 18 bales. In this method,

6660-508: The bales land in the wagon. There are several ways to handle small bales automatically and eliminate hand labor almost completely. Bale stackers, bale bundlers, bale accumulators, and bale sledges are the different categories of these machines. Bale Stackers: Bales may be picked up from the field and stacked using a self-powered machine called a bale stacker , bale wagon or harobed . There are several designs and sizes made by New Holland. One type picks up square bales, which are dropped by

6771-403: The bales will be up against a vertical table. The machine will hold 160 bales (ten tiers); usually, there will be cross-tiers near the center to keep the stack from swaying or collapsing if any weight is applied to the top of the stack. The full load will be transported to a barn; the whole rear of the stacker will tilt upwards until it is vertical. There will be two pushers that will extend through

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6882-442: The base, called glumes , followed by one or more florets. A floret consists of the flower surrounded by two bracts, one external—the lemma —and one internal—the palea . The flowers are usually hermaphroditic — maize being an important exception—and mainly anemophilous or wind-pollinated, although insects occasionally play a role. The perianth is reduced to two scales, called lodicules , that expand and contract to spread

6993-450: The caterpillars of many brown butterflies . Grasses are also eaten by omnivorous or even occasionally by primarily carnivorous animals. Grasses dominate certain biomes , especially temperate grasslands , because many species are adapted to grazing and fire. Grasses are unusual in that the meristem is near the bottom of the plant; hence, grasses can quickly recover from cropping at the top. The evolution of large grazing animals in

7104-412: The chamber. Once the desired length is achieved, the knotter arm is mechanically tripped to begin the knotting cycle in which several knotters (4–6 is common) tie the 4–6 strings that maintain the bale's shape. In the prairies of Canada, the large rectangular balers are also called "prairie raptors". Square bales are easier to transport than round bales, since there is little risk of the bale rolling off

7215-410: The crop and pressure applied (can be 100 lbs for a 16"x18" 2-string bale and even more for a 3-string bale). Many balers have adjustable bale chamber pressure and bale length, so shorter, less-dense bales can be produced for easy handling. To form the bale, the material to be baled (which is often hay or straw) in the windrow is lifted by tines in the baler's reel . This material is then packed into

7326-410: The door into the bale chamber as it moves backward. The plunger and knife are attached to a heavy asymmetrical flywheel to provide extra force as they pack the bales. A measuring device – , typically a spiked wheel that is turned by the emerging bales – measures the amount of material that is being compressed and, at the appropriate length, it triggers the knotters that wrap

7437-441: The early stages of the fermentation process. Silage gas contains nitric oxide (NO), which will react with oxygen (O 2 ) in the air to form nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), which is toxic. Lack of oxygen inside the silo can cause asphyxiation. Molds that grow when air reaches cured silage can cause organic dust toxic syndrome . Collapsing silage from large bunker silos has caused deaths. Silage itself poses no special danger however

7548-835: The erosional impact of urban storm water runoff. Pollen morphology, particularly in the Poaceae family, is key to figuring out their evolutionary relationships and how environments have changed over time . Grass pollen grains, however, often look the same, making it hard to use them for detailed climate or environmental reconstructions. Grass pollen has a single pore and can vary a lot in size, from about 20 to over 100 micrometers, and this size difference has been looked into for clues about past habitats, to tell apart domesticated grasses from wild ones, and to indicate various biological features like how they perform photosynthesis , their breeding systems, and genetic complexity. Yet, there's ongoing debate about how effective pollen size

7659-415: The exterior of the bale. This roll of plastic is mounted in a sliding shuttle on a steel arm and can move parallel to the bale axis, so the operator does not need to hold up the heavy roll of plastic. The plastic layer extends over the ends of the bale to form a ring of plastic approximately 12 inches (30 cm) wide on the ends, with hay exposed in the center. To stretch the cling-wrap plastic tightly over

7770-497: The first round baler did not see production until 1947 when Allis-Chalmers introduced the Roto-Baler. Marketed for the water-shedding and light weight properties of its hay bales, AC had sold nearly 70,000 units by the end of production in 1960. The next major innovation began in 1965 when a graduate student at Iowa State University, Virgil Haverdink, sought out Wesley F. Buchele, a professor of Agricultural Engineering, seeking

7881-448: The fodder around the sides is generally useless owing to mildew . In the US, structures were typically constructed of wooden cylinders to 35 or 40 ft. in depth. In the early days of mechanized agriculture (late 1800s), stalks were cut and collected manually using a knife and horsedrawn wagon, and fed into a stationary machine called a "silo filler" that chopped the stalks and blew them up

7992-469: The full list of Poaceae genera . The grass family is one of the most widely distributed and abundant groups of plants on Earth . Grasses are found on every continent, including Antarctica . The Antarctic hair grass, Deschampsia antarctica is one of only two plant species native to the western Antarctic Peninsula . Grasses are the dominant vegetation in many habitats, including grassland , salt-marsh , reedswamp and steppes . They also occur as

8103-478: The grains of grasses such as wheat , rice, maize (corn) and barley have been the most important human food crops . Grasses are also used in the manufacture of thatch , paper , fuel , clothing , insulation , timber for fencing , furniture , scaffolding and construction materials, floor matting , sports turf and baskets . Of all crops grown, 70% are grasses. Agricultural grasses grown for their edible seeds are called cereals or grains (although

8214-479: The grasses could dry and cure, to retain nutrition for livestock feed at a later time. In the 1860s, mechanical cutting devices were developed; from these came modern devices including mechanical mowers and balers. In 1872, a reaper that used a knotter device to bundle and bind hay was invented by Charles Withington; this was commercialized in 1874 by Cyrus McCormick . In 1936, Innes invented an automatic baler that tied bales with twine using Appleby-type knotters from

8325-406: The greater moisture content makes them heavier and harder to handle. These bales begin to ferment almost immediately, and the metal bale spear stabbed into the core becomes very warm to the touch from the fermentation process. Silage or haylage bales may be wrapped by placing them on a rotating bale spear mounted on the rear of a tractor. As the bale spins, a layer of plastic cling film is applied to

8436-408: The ground as the baler moved through the field. Another team of workers with horses and a flatbed wagon would come by and use a sharp metal hook to grab the bale and throw it up onto the wagon while an assistant stacked the bales, for transport to the barn. A later time-saving innovation was to tow the flatbed wagon directly behind the baler. The bale would be pushed up a ramp to a waiting attendant on

8547-721: The ground, making a long continuous "sausage" of silage, often at the side of a field. The wrapping may be performed by a bale wrapper , while the baled silage is handled using a bale handler or a front-loader , either impaling the bale on a flap, or by using a special grab. The flaps do not hole the bales. In the UK, baled silage is most often made in round bales about 1.2 m × 1.2 m (4 ft × 4 ft), individually wrapped with four to six layers of "bale wrap plastic" (black, white or green 25-micrometre stretch film). The percentage of dry matter can vary from about 20% dry matter upwards. The continuous "sausage" referred to above

8658-434: The hay press was the common name of the stationary baling implement, powered with a tractor or stationary engine using a belt on a belt pulley , with the hay being brought to the baler and fed in by hand. Later, balers were made mobile, with a 'pickup' to gather up the hay and feed it into the chamber. These often used air-cooled gasoline engines mounted on the baler for power. The biggest change to this type of baler since 1940

8769-589: The heavy torque required for such equipment, double Cardan joints are primarily used. Former Walterscheid engineer Martin Brown is credited with "inventing" this use for universal joints. By 1975, fifteen American and Canadian companies were manufacturing large round balers. Due to the ability for round bales to roll away on a slope, they require specific treatment for safe transport and handling. Small round bales can typically be moved by hand or with lower-powered equipment. Due to their size and their weight, which can be

8880-400: The huge rectangular shape, large spear forks, or squeeze grips, are mounted to heavy lifting machinery, such as large forklifts, tractors equipped with front-end loaders , telehandlers , hay squeezes or wheel loaders to lift these bales. The original type of baler produces small square bales. These bales are rectangular-shaped "square" bales. This was once the most prevalent form of baler but

8991-426: The improvement in legislation to regulate the animal food industry has reduced the problems concerning food-related human diseases by improvement of the hygienic quality of silage. Milk from cows fed with silage containing clostridial spores could represent a risk in hard cheese production. A special focus has to be directed to zoonotic pathogens like listeria , mycotoxins , clostridia , and E. coli bacteria as

9102-463: The land area of the Earth , excluding Greenland and Antarctica . Grasses are also an important part of the vegetation in many other habitats, including wetlands , forests and tundra . Though they are commonly called "grasses", groups such as the seagrasses , rushes and sedges fall outside this family. The rushes and sedges are related to the Poaceae, being members of the order Poales , but

9213-503: The last bale of the group triggers a rear gate open, and the bales are deposited on the ground. These groups can be bound with twine for stack stability or not and be stacked on wagons or trailers for transport to storage. These groups are ideal for storage in buildings accessible to equipment. This is also the ideal way to automate bales and also allow them to cure properly. Bale Sledge: In Britain (if small square bales are still to be used), they are usually collected as they fall out of

9324-700: The last sixty years. There are three ryegrasses in seed form and commonly used: Italian, Perennial and Hybrid. The fermentation process of silo or pit silage releases liquid. Silo effluent is corrosive. It can also contaminate water sources unless collected and treated. The high nutrient content can lead to eutrophication (hypertrophication), the growth of bacterial or algal blooms. Plastic sheeting used for sealing pit or baled silage needs proper disposal, and some areas have recycling schemes for it. Traditionally, farms have burned silage plastics; however odor and smoke concerns have led certain communities to restrict that practice. Silage must be firmly packed to minimize

9435-453: The latest Cretaceous ( Maastrichtian ) aged Lameta Formation of India have pushed this date back to 66 million years ago. In 2011, fossils from the same deposit were found to belong to the modern rice tribe Oryzeae , suggesting substantial diversification of major lineages by this time. In 2018, a study described grass microfossils extracted from the teeth of the hadrosauroid dinosaur Equijubus normani from northern China, dating to

9546-624: The latter term, when used agriculturally, refers to both cereals and similar seeds of other plant species, such as buckwheat and legumes ). Three cereals—rice, wheat, and maize (corn)—provide more than half of all calories consumed by humans. Cereals constitute the major source of carbohydrates for humans and perhaps the major source of protein; these include rice (in southern and eastern Asia ), maize (in Central and South America ), and wheat and barley (in Europe , northern Asia and

9657-463: The leaves are attached. Grass leaves are nearly always alternate and distichous (in one plane), and have parallel veins. Each leaf is differentiated into a lower sheath hugging the stem and a blade with entire (i.e., smooth) margins. The leaf blades of many grasses are hardened with silica phytoliths , which discourage grazing animals; some, such as sword grass , are sharp enough to cut human skin. A membranous appendage or fringe of hairs called

9768-469: The lemma and palea; these are generally interpreted to be modified sepals. The fruit of grasses is a caryopsis , in which the seed coat is fused to the fruit wall. A tiller is a leafy shoot other than the first shoot produced from the seed. Grass blades grow at the base of the blade and not from elongated stem tips. This low growth point evolved in response to grazing animals and allows grasses to be grazed or mown regularly without severe damage to

9879-456: The machine and hold the bottom of the stack from being pulled out from the stacker while it is driven out of the barn. Bale Bundlers: Bales may be picked up from the field or collected directly from the small square baler. Each bale is ingested into a compression chamber and indexed until either two or three are ready for compression. After 7 compression cycles are completed, making a cube of 14 or 21 bales they are tied with twine or banded into

9990-408: The means of storage, the degree of compression, and the amount of water that will be lost in storage, but not exceeding 75%. Weather during harvest need not be as fair and dry as when harvesting for drying. For corn, harvest begins when the whole-plant moisture is at a suitable level, ideally a few days before it is ripe. For pasture-type crops, the grass is mown and allowed to wilt for a day or so until

10101-455: The moisture content drops to a suitable level. Ideally the crop is mowed when in full flower , and deposited in the silo on the day of its cutting. After harvesting, crops are shredded to pieces about 15 mm ( 1 ⁄ 2  in) long. The material is spread in uniform layers over the floor of the silo, and closely packed. When the silo is filled or the stack built, a layer of straw or some other dry porous substance may be spread over

10212-411: The opening. The airtight seal between each bale permits the row of round bales to ferment as if they were in a silo bag , but they are easier to handle than a silo bag, as they are more robust and compact. The plastic usage is relatively high, and there is no way to reuse the silage-contaminated plastic sheeting, although it can be recycled or used as a fuel source via incineration . The wrapping cost

10323-518: The outer perimeter of the bale. The round baler's rotational forming and compaction process also enables both large and small round bales to be fed out by unrolling the bale, leaving a continuous flat strip in the field or behind a feeding barrier. Silage , a fermented animal feed, was introduced in the late 1800s, and can also be stored in a silage or haylage bale, which is a high-moisture bale wrapped in plastic film. These are baled much wetter than hay bales, and are usually smaller than hay bales because

10434-506: The oxygen content, lest it spoil. Silage goes through four major stages in a silo : Silos are potentially hazardous: deaths may occur in the process of filling and maintaining them, and several safety precautions are necessary. There is a risk of injury by machinery or from falls. When a silo is filled, fine dust particles in the air can become explosive because of their large aggregate surface area. Also, fermentation presents respiratory hazards. The ensiling process produces "silo gas" during

10545-665: The parts of the fish that are not used as human food such as fish guts (entrails), fish heads and trimmings are utilized as ingredients in feed pellets. The silage is performed by first grinding the remains and mixing it with formic acid , and then storing it in a tank. The acid helps with preservation as well as further dissolving the residues. Process tanks for fish silage can be aboard ships or on land. Grass crops Gramineae  Juss. Poaceae ( / p oʊ ˈ eɪ s i . iː , - s i aɪ / poh- AY -see-e(y)e ), also called Gramineae ( / ɡ r ə ˈ m ɪ n i . iː , - n i aɪ / grə- MIN -ee-e(y)e ),

10656-400: The plant. Three general classifications of growth habit present in grasses: bunch-type (also called caespitose), stoloniferous , and rhizomatous . The success of the grasses lies in part in their morphology and growth processes and in part in their physiological diversity. There are both C3 and C4 grasses, referring to the photosynthetic pathway for carbon fixation. The C4 grasses have

10767-629: The relatively short time span of about 4 million years. According to Lester Charles King , the spread of grasses in the Late Cenozoic would have changed patterns of hillslope evolution favouring slopes that are convex upslope and concave downslope and lacking a free face were common. King argued that this was the result of more slowly acting surface wash caused by carpets of grass which in turn would have resulted in relatively more soil creep . There are about 12,000 grass species in about 771 genera that are classified into 12 subfamilies. See

10878-442: The resulting silage. Silage inoculants contain one or more strains of lactic acid bacteria , and the most common is Lactobacillus plantarum . Other bacteria used include Lactobacillus buchneri , Enterococcus faecium and Pediococcus species. Ryegrasses have high sugars and respond to nitrogen fertiliser better than any other grass species. These two qualities have made ryegrass the most popular grass for silage-making for

10989-412: The seagrasses are members of the order Alismatales . However, all of them belong to the monocot group of plants. Grasses may be annual or perennial herbs , generally with the following characteristics (the image gallery can be used for reference): The stems of grasses, called culms , are usually cylindrical (more rarely flattened, but not 3-angled) and are hollow, plugged at the nodes , where

11100-483: The side of a bank are sometimes used. The chopped grass can then be dumped in at the top, to be drawn from the bottom in winter. This requires considerable effort to compress the stack in the silo to cure it properly. Again, the pit is covered with plastic sheet and weighed down with tires. In an alternative method, the cut vegetation is formed into bales using a baler , making balage (North America) or silage bales (UK, Australia, New Zealand). The grass or other forage

11211-441: The spear pulled out. Careful placement of the spear in the center is needed or the bale can spin around and touch the ground while in transport, causing a loss of control. When used for wrapped bales that are to be stored further, the spear makes a hole in the wrapping that must be sealed with plastic tape to maintain a hermetic seal. Alternatively, a grapple fork may be used to lift and transport large round bales. The grapple fork

11322-406: The surface. In the silo, the pressure of the material, when chaffed , excludes air from all but the top layer; in the case of the stack, extra pressure is applied by weights to prevent excessive heating. Forage harvesters collect and chop the plant material, and deposit it in trucks or wagons. These forage harvesters can be either tractor -drawn or self-propelled. Harvesters blow the chaff into

11433-438: The tractor's loader as an attachment called a bale grabber, they incorporate a trip tipping mechanism which can flip the bales over on to the flat side or end for storage on the thickest plastic layers. Silage undergoes anaerobic fermentation , which starts about 48 hours after the silo is filled, and converts sugars to acids. Fermentation is essentially complete after about two weeks. Before anaerobic fermentation starts, there

11544-466: The tribe Poeae described in 1814 by Robert Brown , and the type genus Poa described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus . The term is derived from the Ancient Greek πόα (póa, "fodder") . Grasses include some of the most versatile plant life-forms . They became widespread toward the end of the Cretaceous period, and fossilized dinosaur dung ( coprolites ) have been found containing phytoliths of

11655-411: The twine around the bale and tie it off. As the next bale is formed, the tied one is driven out of the rear of the baling chamber, where it can either drop to the ground or be sent to a wagon or accumulator towed behind the baler. When a wagon is used, the bale may be lifted by hand from the chamber by a worker on the wagon who stacks the bales on the wagon, or the bale may be propelled into the wagon by

11766-556: The wagon through a chute at the rear or side of the machine. Chaff may also be emptied into a bagger, which puts the silage into a large plastic bag that is laid out on the ground. In North America, Australia, northwestern Europe, and New Zealand it is common for silage to be placed in large heaps on the ground, rolled by tractor to push out the air, then covered with plastic sheets that are held down by used tires or tire ring walls. In New Zealand and Northern Europe, 'clamps' made of concrete or old wooden railway ties (sleepers) and built into

11877-411: The wagon. The attendant would hook the bale off the ramp and stack it on the wagon while waiting for the next bale to be produced. Eventually, as balers evolved, the bale thrower was developed, eliminating needing someone to stand on the wagon and pick up the finished bales. The first thrower mechanism used two fast-moving friction belts to grab finished bales and throw them at an angle up in the air onto

11988-402: Was awarded the 1945 Nobel prize in chemistry "for his research and inventions in agricultural and nutrition chemistry, especially for his fodder preservation method", practically inventing modern silage. Early silos were made of stone or concrete either above or below ground, but it is recognized that air may be sufficiently excluded in a tightly pressed stack, though in this case a few inches of

12099-432: Was preserved for animals in parts of Germany since the start of the 19th century. This gained the attention of French agriculturist Auguste Goffart of Sologne , near Orléans . He published a book in 1877 which described the experiences of preserving green crops in silos. Goffart's experience attracted considerable attention. The conditions of dairy farming in the United States suited the ensiling of green corn fodder, and

12210-440: Was promoted as a "Whale of a Bale" and Iowa State University now explains the innovative design as follows: Farmers were saved from the backbreaking chore of slinging hay bales in the 1960s, when Iowa State agricultural engineering professor Wesley Buchele and a group of student researchers invented a baler that produced large, round bales that could be moved by tractor. The baler has become the predominant forage-handling machine in

12321-590: Was soon adopted by New England farmers. Francis Morris of Maryland prepared the first silage produced in America in 1876. The favourable results obtained in the US led to the introduction of the system in the United Kingdom, where Thomas Kirby first introduced the process for British dairy herds. The modern silage preserved with acid and by preventing contact with air was invented by Finnish academic and professor of chemistry Artturi Ilmari Virtanen . Virtanen

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