| Silage Production |
Hay Making |
 Improved meadow of no conservation value. |
 Flower rich hay meadow of high conservation value |
| Silage production began in the last few decades |
Hay making has been carried out for centuries |
 Production consists of 2 cuts per year in June and September. The grass is collected while still wet and is covered in plastic sheeting, often in ‘clamps’, to create anaerobic conditions. It is allowed to ‘ferment’ over several months then it becomes sticky and palatable to cattle. |
 The grass is cut once a year in summer and left to dry out in the field before baling and taking it in to store in a barn for winter use. |
| It involves heavy use of chemical fertilisers which many wild flower species find too strong to survive. |
The land is occasionally limed (where lime is added to the soil to increase alkalinity) and manured, which encourages wild flowers to thrive. |
| The grass is first cut in June before most wild flowers have had time to set their seed, so depleting the field’s seed bank for the next year. |
The grass is usually cut in mid to late summer when most wild flowers have had time to set their seed. |
| Silage fields support just a few common species and have no conservation value |
Hay meadows can support up to 50 species per square metre and so are of high conservation value |
| An effluent is produced during the fermentation process which runs off from the silage clamp. It is toxic and can seriously harm ecosystems, particularly if it runs into local streams and rivers. |
No effluent is produced in storing hay. |
