Dave Chalton wrote in message
om...
Thought this may be worth a little discussion, especially for all of
you who are convinced that land is better put to crops for human
consumption than for animals.

I heard it postulated today, in a Crop Mechanisation lecture, that the
power consumption of a powered forage harvester giving a precision (or
metered) chop, working width maybe three metres, in
chemical-energy-required terms, would, in one years use on one farm,
consume enough energy (chemical) to feed 3000 people for a year. Of
course, the conversion can't be workied, as science has yet to find an
efficient way of feeding people unrefined crude oil, but it does give
some food for thought perhaps.
I would be glad of some other views on this, either for or against, or
either, since at the moment I'm taking that with a pinch of salt, so
to speak!

Dave

well, we make 80 acres of first cut grass silage, precision chopped.
There is two tractors mowing, one tractor rowing up, the self propelled
chopper, an industrial loader loading the grass into the pit, three
tractors carting. They will use, in total, less than 200 gallons of
diesel, as we have a 200 gallon tank and if it is full before the
contractor arrives, we can fill them all up when they leave.
If you put in second cut as well, we would produce enough silage to feed
70 milk cows and over 150 younger cattle through a 180 day winter off
400 gallons of diesel.

--
Jim Webster

"The pasture of stupidity is unwholesome to mankind"

'Abd-ar-Rahman b. Muhammad b. Khaldun al-Hadrami'