Silage-making season is upon us. It’s a harried time of year with all hands – and sometimes even extra hands – on deck.
No one loved silage more than Keith Bolsen, Professor Emeritus of Cattle Nutrition at Kansas State University. He studied and researched the feedstuff his entire professional life – how to make it, enhance it, pack it, seal it, and feed it out. But above all else, Bolsen was concerned about silage safety.
Keith Bolsen passed away suddenly in May 2020. But his legacy of silage-safety education and promotion lives on. He devoted the later years of his career to that mission, establishing the Keith Bolsen Silage Safety Foundation with his wife, Ruthie, in 2017.
Bolsen cautioned that silage-making season was a particularly dangerous time. Schedule intensity, bringing in extra help, multiple pieces of equipment running at once, exhaustion, and complacency all can lead to tragic results.
But on the positive side, he also appreciated that the practices that produce quality silage also produce safe silage. Proper packing and sealing of bunkers and drive-over piles can help minimize – but not completely prevent – the risk of silage collapses.
Among Bolsen’s tips for preventing tragedies related to silage avalanches and collapses were:
- Develop written silage safety policies and procedures, and hold regularly scheduled meetings with the entire silage production and feeding team.
- Do not fill bunker silos and drive-over piles higher than the unloading equipment can reach safely – typically about 13-16 feet.
- Never stand closer to the face than a distance of three times its height.
- Always follow the “buddy rule” and never work alone at a bunker or pile. Suffocation has likely been the cause of death in most avalanche accidents.
- Never drive the unloader parallel to the feed-out face.
- Do not climb to the top and “pitch” surface spoilage.
- Do not take samples directly from the face. Collect a batch into a loader bucket or pile and gather samples there.
- Post warning signs around the perimeter of bunkers and piles: “Danger! Silage Face May Collapse.”
- Never allow people to approach the feed-out face.
- Avoid being complacent and thinking an avalanche cannot happen to you.
Bolsen’s mission was to “send everyone home safe.” He said all of the efforts that dairies and feedlots expend to grow and process high-quality silage are meaningless if safety is not also a priority. “Safety trumps everything else,” he declared.
One of Bolsen’s most recent education efforts prior to his death was to encourage dairies and feedlots to take a small portion of land out of production to expand their silage-storage areas. By allocating more space for bunkers and drive-over piles, heights and overfilling could be lessened; silage quality improved; and safety hazards reduced.
Nutritionists can play a valuable role in reminding crews to practice silage safety; writing safety protocols; and providing on-farm training. A wealth of resources, including a members-only training video, can be found on the Keith Bolsen Silage Safety Foundation website, https://www.silagesafety.org/.
