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Results
Grass Hay
We concluded that the minimum level of grass hay in a mixture with WDGS for bagging
would be 15% on a dry matter basis. At this level, the bag was 4 feet and 7 inches high
and 14 feet wide. It did not seem to put much pressure on the sides of the bag.
Alfalfa Hay
Alfalfa hay is recommended at 22.5% (DM basis) when mixing it with wet distillers
grains to be stored in a silo bag. At this level, the bag was 4 feet and 5 inches tall and 13
feet wide. At this level, the dry matter of the product is 41.26%.
Wheat Straw
Wheat straw required the least amount of forage on a dry matter basis compared to the
other two forages used in this experiment. The recommended level for bagging is 12.5%
on a dry matter basis. At this level, the bag was 4 feet and 11 inches high by 13 feet and
8 inches wide. The dry matter of this mixed product was 36.87%.
Dry Distillers Grains
The mixture of dry distillers grains and wet distillers grains appeared to do a very nice
job of bagging during this experiment. The recommended level of bagging dry distiller
grains is 50% on a dry matter basis. This had a mixture dry matter of 49.35%. When
bagged, it was 4 feet and 11 inches high. It was 13 feet and 6 inches wide. This bagged
just a littler better than the wheat straw did.
Wet Corn Gluten Feed
Because the bag split open for this product, a recommend level would be 60% wet corn
gluten feed on a dry matter basis. For this to work, the pressure on the bagger would
have to be decreased from what was used during this experiment. What that pressure
should be set at is not known as of now. This is something that could be further studied
in the future.
Bunker
From this experiment, 25% wheat straw was mixed with WDGS. Because the scale was
too small, it is unclear what the optimum wheat straw level is, but appeared to be greater
than 25%.
With the larger-scale experiment with two loads of WDGS with grass hay, 30% grass hay
(DM basis) worked okay and required less bulk or storage space. However, 40% worked
even better and would pack better with larger, heavier equipment. In our experiment, a
skid-loader with tracks was used and probably resulted in a lower level of grass hay than
in a commercial setting.
SUMMARY
This first experiment for determining what levels of different forages and byproducts can
be mixed with wet distiller’s grains to be able store in silo bags and bunkers has been
successful and provided the necessary information. It has helped determine what the
minimal levels are for each of the 5 products used in the bagging experiment. It has also
provided a starting point for finding a minimal level needed to be able to pack WDGS
into a bunker by mixing it with a forage. Table 1 provides the different measurements
that were taken during this experiment. For bagging, 12.5% wheat straw, 15% grass hay,
22.5% alfalfa hay, or 50% DDGS all worked well with 300 psi pressure on the bagger.
For bunker storage methods, 30% grass hay worked, but we would recommend 40%
grass hay (DM basis). At this point, our conclusion is that wheat straw would be optimum
between 25 and 32% based on how the bagging results.
Pictures are provided that help show how the different levels of the different products
bagged and how bunker storage looked with grass hay.
IMPACT: If adequate storage methods can be elucidated, then more product can be
moved in the summer, allows for more product to be stored and used by cow-calf
operations and forage situations in the winter, and allows for use by smaller feedlots
where limits exist on using up semi-load quantities in the summer months.
Table 1. This table shows the different measurements that were taken after the bagging
experiment was done. The bold numbers are the recommended levels. We can provide
"as-is" mixes as well as the product DM we used here for producers.
Date published: June 28, 2006
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