Large square bales are made with tractor pulled balers. Large square bales are currently made either in dimensions 1.2 m x 1.2m x 2.4m (4′ x4’x 8′) or 0.9m x 1.2m x 2.4m (3′ x4’x 8′). A bale accumulator is pulled behind the baler that collects the bales in groups of four and leaves them on the field. At a later date when available, an automatic bale collector travels through the field and collects the bales. The automatic bale collector travels to the side of the road and unloads the bales into a stack. If the automatic bale collector is not available bales may be collected using a flat bed truck equipped with a front-end bale loader. A loader is needed at the storage site to unload the truck and stack the bales. The stack is tarped using a forklift and manual labor.

Loafing

Mowing, conditioning, and raking operations are identical to those for baling. When biomass is dry, a loafer picks the biomass from windrow and makes large stacks of about 2.4-m wide, up to 6-m long and 3.6-m high (SAF 1979; FMO 1987). The roof of the stacker acts as a press pushing the material down to increase the density of the biomass. Once filled, loafer transports the biomass to storage area and unloads the stack. The top of the stack gets the dome shape of the stacker roof and thus easily sheds water. The loafer has been used for hay and for corn stover. It was used for experimental wheat straw in Idaho. To the knowledge of the authors, the loafer has not been used for switchgrass, so its practical performance is not known at this time.

Dry Chop

In this system a forage harvester picks up the dry biomass from windrow and chops it into smaller pieces (2.5-5.0cm). The chopped biomass is blown into a forage wagon traveling along side of the forage harvester. Once filled, the forage wagon is pulled to the side of the farm and unloaded. A piler (inclined belt conveyor) is used to pile up the material in the form of a large cone.

Wet Chop

In this system, a forage harvester picks up the dry or wet biomass from the windrow. The chopped biomass is blown into a forage wagon that travels along side of the harvester. Once filled, the wagon is pulled to a silage pit where biomass is compacted to produce silage (Luginbuhl et al. 2002). For silaging dry corn stover, water is added to create silaging mois­ture content. To the knowledge of the authors, no literature is available for silaging dry switchgrass. Work is in progress for silaging corn stalks and wheat straw.