what's the best way to fill/pack a silage bunker?

[stescher]

I just started doing silage and was wondering how the levelers work best and such

[Syd Khaos]

Best way to load a bunker is to start by making sure you layer the product into the bunker properly.
Persoanlly I use cruise control feature to help with this. For example, using the biggest (stock) forage wagon (50k liters capacity) if you set your CC to 8 MPH you will dump perfect from begining to end of bunkers at the biogas plant.

This is proabably the most important part. If you layer product in the bunker well then every other step is easy-peasy.

In previous versions compaction was all about weight. In FS17 it is more about how well spread out the product is.....though weight still helps.

I suggest looking into the mod Reck Jumbo 1. It is a rolling wheel with blades on it. It helps to spread out and compact the bunker. Slap that onto a tractor with some decent weight and you will have it compressed in no time.

Another option....one we use whenever we do grass into silage. Put the Reck roller on front of the tractor dumping the loads into the bunker, that way as you dump a new load you can be smoothing and compacting the last load.
When we do this by time all loads are dumped in the bunker it is at 70%+ compaction.

I persoanlly don't use the levelers to fill/compact the bunkers...to much headache.
They do great when it comes time to sell the silage though.
2 conveyor belts and a leveling blade and I can sell a 500k unit bunker in about 10min at BGA plant.

Link for the Reck Jumbo:
http://www.modhub.us/farming-simulator-2017-mods/reck-jumbo-i-v1-0/

[stescher]

Thanks a bunch, I'll check that out.

I made a pile using the leveler and then tried packing and it wasn't going so well. I'll try your way next. Thanks again

[(TEAMKILL)]

Syd pretty much covered it all. Only thing I would add is I love the big wheel loader and its 10K silage fork instead of the leveler. Get a wheel loader with the dual wheels, good compaction there. Leveler always makes more of a mess than it does good, for me, operator error i guess, lol.

[Alshain]

I've found I like the leveler. It depends on your taste though, once you figure out how to use the leveler you can build ramps on the ends and even off the product. The important thing is that it stay flat enough for you to drive over without getting stuck.

If you choose to use the leveler, don't use the bigger one, the smaller one has better range off the ground even on the mid to large tractors and initially when the chaff pile is small, keep the blade perfectly vertical and at max height.

Alternatively to the wheel loader, I like to use the conveyor belts. They are cheap and not that hard to figure out. They require a little attention as they start to clear the area around the first belt, but it's not near as much work as taking it back and forth with a silage fork.

[(TEAMKILL)]

Al, I use the wheel loader and the conveyor system. Instead of pushing piles though I drop a load, 10k, off from the silage froks.

If you dont use the belt system to slowly feed the hopper you will lose the good price you started selling at.

[Psycho]

Sorry to necro, but just wanted to say thank you to JohnnyChimpo and repliers for some great advice for newbies. This is way better than the published guide on silage.

Originally posted by JohnnyChimpo:

Best way to load a bunker is to start by making sure you layer the product into the bunker properly....

Being a rube, I took a full load in the Repex 34S loader, and... just dumped it in a huge pile at the end of the silo. Climbing up I highpointed the baby NH8340 on the top of the chaff stack and pinned it against the silo wall... it took about ten minutes of clawing/crabbing to get it off.

Then I had to recover the mower (which I'd forgotten to detach before compacting) that I'd dropped off the side to lose weight, and of course it flipped wrong side up and couldn't be rammed back upright to reattach. I had to go get a front-loading IH1455 to fix the mess, which on reflection I should have done first...

Anyway, I just wanted to thank the community for the solid advice here on the forums. Keep up the good work peoples!