Managing footpaths and rights of ways across your silage ground during the extreme conditions of spring 2020 has been a challenge to all but the most remote of farmers. Silage crops are often considered the least “risky” use of land where footpaths are a problem. Livestock are susceptible to disturbance and worrying by two and four legged visitors, and cereal crops are vulnerable to “accidental” outbreaks of fire. This often leads growers to put the land down to silage production as the safe option. Grass and wholecrops will be cut before they are tinder dry and maize is a fairly robust crop once established.

The rights of way across your land are a pain in the backside, a godsend and/or a piece of our lands rich history – depending on your point of view. To most landowners the thought of well meaning but unknowing people tramping across the land, through the crops or livestock sends a shiver down the spine. To the country lover who only has a small outside space to call their own, the footpath network is their only chance to really get into the landscape. And to the historian it’s the opportunity to trace the movement of our ancestors from the rights of passage that still exist today

So what are the downsides of footpaths running through your silage crop?

The public using the rights of way are not really the problem - it’s what they leave behind that’s the problem. We are all too familiar with the presence of dog poo on footpaths. Obviously if it’s picked up and removed it’s not a problem at all, but much of it is not picked up. This problem may have been exacerbated by the campaigns to reduce the use of disposable plastic leading more people to leave the mess where the dog placed it. The main issue with dog faeces in silage is the risk of neosporosis, which causes abortion in cattle. The problem is that the organisms that cause the condition can survive the fermentation process and so the cattle fed contaminated silage in winter are still vulnerable.

There are more issues than dog poo in silage fields

It’s not just the mess the dog leaves, but also the sticks and toys that can be left behind hidden in the crop ready to be ensiled. These things along with a bizarre array of other items and litter that the two-legged visitors leave behind can cause all sorts of issues if ingested by cattle.

So can AD plants uses contaminated silage?

There are issues with using contaminated silage in an AD plant. Firstly the inclusion of foreign objects and materials into the silage will compromise the fermentation. This leads to higher in clamp losses and a loss of valuable energy as the bacteria battle out for dominance. More importantly, these foreign objects can cause all sorts of expensive issues for the plant and equipment. Those fancy stainless pumps and macerators really don’t like stuff they were never designed for. And finally, the bacterial population within the AD tank have evolved to digest your carefully constructed diet, introducing the remnants of a family picnic, whilst not catastrophic, will not maximise your gas output.

How do I manage footpaths across our land?

There are three ways of tackling this issue – the 3 E’s. The first of these is education. Unfortunately education is going to be a long slow process over a long time period. Whilst I would encourage everyone to try and help educate users of the countryside about what’s going on there, is extremely unlikely that a single farmer or estate will be able to make much of a difference. Education needs public bodies and industry groups’ participation to get much traction.

Eliminating the contaminated silage is probably the easiest solution to implement. Cut the footpath course through the crop as you open up the field. Leave the crop in the swath (to avoid raking) then bale to remove the material as soon as possible. Raising the cutting height by maybe 100mm can also ensure you leave a lot of the unwanted stuff behind on the ground. This is particularly useful in maize and wholecrop silage.

Encouragement is the final E and can be a more productive process for individual farmers. By encouraging people to use an alternative mown strip rather than the actual course of the footpath you can keep the body of the crop free. Whilst we all know that you can’t alter the course of a footpath without planning permission, you can offer people an alternative route that might suit all parties. By mowing a 2m strip around the outside of a field walkers are encouraged to use this route. A “polite” notice at either end along the lines of :

“The official right of ways runs across the middle of this field but by using

the mown path around the edge you can help keep our animals safe”

can give real benefits. Most walkers are in the countryside because they love it and they don’t really want to spoil it. It also shows the landowner accepts the public right of access and people will always choose to walk on a cut path over a 2ft tall wet rye grass sward. By using a little bit of encouragement you can help the visitors to protect your crop and the stock. 

If you want to discuss how you can minimise the negative implications of footpaths with an independent consultant or to discuss any of the other aspects of silage making covered in this series – contact Jeremy Nash @ jeremynash1@btinternet.com