All silages produce lots of gas during the early stages of ensilage, although most of it is relatively harmless under the circumstances in which it is produced. However, under certain unusual circumstances oxides of nitrogen can be produced in significant quantities, and farmers should be alert to this.
Silages produce gas Large quantities of gas are produced in the first days of silage fermentation.
This occurs for all silages, but is likely to be greater where filling and sealing of the silo is protracted or where wet grass which will undergo extensive fermentation is ensiled. Sometimes where bunker silos are extremely well sealed, or where bales are individually ensiled in bags, the gas production is evident by the plastic sheet or bag inflating. However, in most silos and wrapped bales the gases produced continuously and quietly leak past the plastic, such that their production is not obvious. Gases that are oxides of nitrogen can also be produced from within the silo during the early days of ensilage. In most cases the quantities seem to be small, and they get carried away in the stream of escaping carbon dioxide and are lost to the atmosphere.