How to avoid mud on the road in a wet silage harvest

Whether it’s climate change or whether it’s just weather, 2023 has been a wet year in the UK for much of the silage making season. Most of early May was a wash out and this years maize harvest has been… shall we say challenging? When the conditions have allowed silage to be harvested, the ground conditions haven’t always been ideal. Modern tyre technology is fantastic at spreading the load and protecting the soil structure in less than ideal conditions, but there has been little improvement in these tyres ability to leave the mud in the field. Mud on tyres inevitably leads to mud on road and, as forage harvester output increases, the amount of soil the carting tractors and silage trailers can deposit on the highway increases too. Bigger foot prints spread mud on more tarmac and as the loads come thick and fast so does the brown stuff.

Years ago this was less of a problem because there was less traffic, less maize grown, proper old fashioned rainfall and generally the public had some sympathy/empathy with agriculture. But the world is very different now. Today the roads in the UK are rammed with premium, pride and joy vehicles driven by a general public far removed from agriculture who just love to complain about everything, and everyone, who impacts on their busy lives. Maize is more popular too, with farmers and contractors now harvesting thousands of tonnes of silage for hundreds of hungry cows and huge AD facilities. And when the mud goes down, tempers and hackles go up.

Is it an offence to spread mud on the road?

Simple answer to this question is yes it is - in the UK at least. It’s not actually an offence to make the road dirty, so those drivers enraged because their pristine SUV is covered with a film of mud have no grounds, but it is an offence to deposit anything on the highway that reduces grip levels or could cause an obstruction. So mud on the road has the potential for prosecution. This is mostly covered under the Highways Act of 1980 and penalties range from fines right up to imprisonment - so it's a serious matter.

On top of this, if someone is injured or suffers significant loss as a direct result of your mud, they can issue legal proceedings. So you can also be facing a civil case for costs/losses that resulted from the mud you deposited on the road. This matter can very quickly become the proverbial S-H-1-T fight!

Who is at fault if there is mud on the road?

It is general for the law to be written in such a way as it catches as many people as possible. So in the case of a contractor harvesting your maize crop, if tractors carting the silage deposit mud on the road, then the driver of the tractor is personally liable for this - and so is his employer the contractor - and just for good measure, so is the farmer or operator of the land. So everyone is in trouble. I am not sure if there has been a case where all three parties have been prosecuted but if the police decide that they are going to prosecute someone, then everyone is in the firing line.

The local council can also decide to wade in too and take the cleanup measures into their own hands. You might think this sounds like good news because you don’t have to clean up the mud on the road. But while you might not have to do the sweeping, you will have to pay for it and at top dollar price too, because the council will arrange the work but you get the bill.

It was the contractor who dropped the mud, so it’s their problem isn’t it?

Unfortunately it’s not quite that simple, because it’s your mud if it came off your field, or even if it is someone else’s mud, it dropped on to the road while carrying out your operations (harvest), so it is your problem too. And those contractors who just make a hell of a mess and disappear in the middle of the night hoping the highway fairies will make it all go away are not doing you any favours either. If (when) there is an accident, they and you will be in court together. This problem is best avoided so what exactly can you do to try and control this problem?

How to avoid dropping mud?

The answer to this is pretty obvious really, if the trailers don’t actually go on the road then they can’t drop any mud on it. That’s in the ideal world, meanwhile back in reality… when you can’t avoid running on the road then you might need to think a bit laterally. In Europe lots of maize is transshipped into lorries or trailers sitting on clean hardstandings keeping the field kit on the muddy side. This system works well but its only really suited to “a long draw” from large blocks of land that make setting up all this kit worthwhile.

A simpler solution can be to run a chaser system where the road tractors drop empty trailers on a clean standing and pick up full trailers filled by a field tractor. This at least keeps the tractor wheels clean. A run on a hard roadway or track before joining the highway can also clean up muddy tyres before you pull out. Driving slowly on the road is recommended by those who have never worked on a farm but it doesn’t really help much.

So what can you do if silage trailers are going to drop mud on the road?

Number one is to have a plan before you start. Planning the maize harvest starts before planting; maybe leaving a grass strip to clean wheels on or a headland track through other fields to avoid running on the road to get to the clamp. If conditions are poor don’t be caught out - you know it’s been wet, you know the harvest team is coming, it really shouldn't be a surprise that there is mud on the road. It’s too late once the first trailer has left the field, you need to get some warning signs ahead of harvest and know where you are going to put them. Get the correct signs as well, a painted ‘MUD ON ROAD’ sign isn’t good enough, a proper sign is less than a tenner and it might well save you from prosecution.

Tractor mounted road brush by Suton

Get signs up and get a powered brush on a tractor or telehander to follow each load out. It’s also good practice to have a tanker of “clean” water to help the brush out too. If you know the harvest is going to be sticky, maybe discuss this with the contractor beforehand and see if they can offer this as part of their package.

What about washing wheels?

In really poor conditions, the police (and/or highways) will expect you to be washing vehicles off before they can join the highway. Obviously the authorities are not interested in just how much inconvenience or cost this will cause, they can just insist or stop the job. So it’s sensible to think about the practicalities of setting up a pressure washer and an IBC of water manned by some poor soul in waterproofs. Or maybe hiring a portable drive through wheel wash bath?. And if you are a contractor cutting large areas of maize for AD customers, then maybe buy or make your own portable wheel wash to make sure your business stays on the right side of the law.

Mobile wheel wash bath

Ultimately putting mud on the road whilst making silage is not in anyones interest. It’s the first indication that the harvest conditions aren’t ideal but more importantly it is evidence for all to see that you are causing an offence under the Highways Act. It’s not just a nuisance to others, it’s potentially lethal - particular to motorcyclists. So make a plan and get things in place well before you fall foul of the law and land yourself up to your neck in the brown stuff.

If you want to discuss planning your silage harvest or any other topics covered in this series, then please contact me at jeremy@silageconsultant.co.uk