Wide-spreading compared to swathing

When forage is conserved as wrapped bales it is recommended to pre-wilt in the field. Usually the mower places the crop in swaths in the field. However, the crop dries faster and in a more controlled way if the mower places the crop wide-spread instead. In this study the two wilting techniques swathing and wide-spreading and the hygienic quality of the feed when these techniques were used were compared.

After 25 hours of wilting in the field the crop was baled in round bales, then the DM concentration after wide-spreading of the crop was 40% and after swathing 28%. The concentration of butyric acid was 0.4 g/kg DM after wide-spreading of the crop and 7.3 g/kg DM after swathing. DM losses were 19 g/kg DM after wide-spreading and 45 g/kg DM after swathing. This shows that the technique wide-spreading gave better hygienic quality of the forage compared to swathing. Read more about butyric acid and hygienic quality here!

Also production costs were documented and the extra labour and machinery costs that were required for wide-spreading were compensated by faster mowing work and higher density in the bales. This actually resulted in 10% lower total costs when wide-spreading compared to swathing.

Sara Muhonen, AgrD

Reference:
Spörndly R, Knicky M, Pauly T & Lingvall P 2008. Quality and economics of pre-wilted silage made by wide-spreading or by swathing. Grassland Science in Europe 13, 645-647.