# Silo King applicator



## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

I called the Silo King rep for this area yesterday to set up a date for him to bring out an applicator to install on my new 1840 baler. I have two choices of applicators......either a Gandy applicator with a blower or the Sidekick auger meter applicator with blower. The main difference I understand between the two is the Sidekick applicator would allow me to be able to adjust the application rate on the go in the cab of the tractor while the Gandy I would have to get out and make a manual adjustment to change the rate.

I really don't know if I would use the on the go adjustment with the Sidekick applicator all that much because I would just set it for the maximum bales per hour I would bale and adjust my ground speed as the windrow got heavier/lighter which would keep me baling at the max capacity which I set the applicator for. For the on the go application rate adjustment I would still have to refigure how many bales per hour to know how much to change the rate setting.

There is about $1,000 difference in the price of the applicators. The Silo King rep is recommending that I go with the Sidekick applicator but I'm leaning more towards the Gandy. Thought I would see if anyone on Haytalk had used either applicator and which one you would suggest I get.

Hayden


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

haybaler101 has used a gandy I think with silo guard. Send him a pm.

Regards, Mike


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Vol said:


> haybaler101 has used a gandy I think with silo guard. Send him a pm.
> 
> Regards, Mike


 I was hoping he would reply to this as I searched back through some older threads and saw where he was using silo king.


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

I have the gandy at this time and last year only adjusted it once between 1st and 2nd cutting. For 1st I set it at 400 bales an hour at the high end of the 20-25% moisture rate and 2nd I had it at 300 bales an hour at the low end of the 20-25% moisture rate. I never hit those bale numbers always guaranteeing that I put enough on. I only use it as needed not running it full time. I would like to upgrade in the future to the sidekick so I can adjust on the go.

I would lean to the sidekick if the budget allows.


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

Farmercline, I am here! I have used a lot of silo King and I have sold a bunch of it and several applicators. The 1840 is an inline, correct? If it is, a blower is recommended. The blower is a big chunk of the investment. The only difference otherwise between the sidekick and the gandy would be the controls. Gandy will be on/off switch in cab while sidekick has a reastat control for variable speed. For a small square, I never sell a sidekick. Just like you said, adjust for max bales and change ground speed. If you remember, Hay Wilson recommends you operate the baler this way with or without innoculant.. My small square, we rarely ever adjusted the gandy. Good luck. If you have any more questions, let me know. I have 15 years of sales and 20 years of experience with silo King!


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

IH 1586 said:


> I have the gandy at this time and last year only adjusted it once between 1st and 2nd cutting. For 1st I set it at 400 bales an hour at the high end of the 20-25% moisture rate and 2nd I had it at 300 bales an hour at the low end of the 20-25% moisture rate. I never hit those bale numbers always guaranteeing that I put enough on. I only use it as needed not running it full time. I would like to upgrade in the future to the sidekick so I can adjust on the go.
> 
> I would lean to the sidekick if the budget allows.


 In what situations do you think you would benefit from being able to the rate adjust on the go? The only situation I can think of is if a windrow along the woods is a little wetter than the rest of the field and wanted to apply at a heavier rate but then again isn't the Silo King supposed to be a set application rate per ton? If I like the product I'm planning on using it on all the alfalfa as an insurance policy since I usually bale with a little moisture to save the leaves. On grass hay I probably won't use it much as I normally don't have trouble getting grass dried down here.

Budget will allow either applicator......just don't want to spend the extra 1k if I won't use the variable rate feature.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

haybaler101 said:


> Farmercline, I am here! I have used a lot of silo King and I have sold a bunch of it and several applicators. The 1840 is an inline, correct? If it is, a blower is recommended. The blower is a big chunk of the investment. The only difference otherwise between the sidekick and the gandy would be the controls. Gandy will be on/off switch in cab while sidekick has a reastat control for variable speed. For a small square, I never sell a sidekick. Just like you said, adjust for max bales and change ground speed. If you remember, Hay Wilson recommends you operate the baler this way with or without innoculant.. My small square, we rarely ever adjusted the gandy. Good luck. If you have any more questions, let me know. I have 15 years of sales and 20 years of experience with silo King!


 Yes the 1840 is an inline baler.....that's why I was told I needed to use the blower with the Gandy applicator if I went that route. I was pretty well dead set on the Gandy until I found out that the blower added an additional 1k to the price of the Gandy which only makes the Sidekick and additional 1k over the Gandy. The Silo King guy for this area I have been talking to and the guy at the booth I talked to at the show in Louisville were really pushing me to go with the Sidekick though.....they said they don't sell many Gandys anymore.

Since you have used Silo King for that long I'm assuming you have had good luck with it? Any limitations or quirks of the product I should be aware of? I have read some mixed reviews of the product but I don't like liquid preservatives so I thought I would give it a try.


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

FarmerCline said:


> Yes the 1840 is an inline baler.....that's why I was told I needed to use the blower with the Gandy applicator if I went that route. I was pretty well dead set on the Gandy until I found out that the blower added an additional 1k to the price of the Gandy which only makes the Sidekick and additional 1k over the Gandy. The Silo King guy for this area I have been talking to and the guy at the booth I talked to at the show in Louisville were really pushing me to go with the Sidekick though.....they said they don't sell many Gandys anymore.
> Since you have used Silo King for that long I'm assuming you have had good luck with it? Any limitations or quirks of the product I should be aware of? I have read some mixed reviews of the product but I don't like liquid preservatives so I thought I would give it a try.


The stuff works, but it does have limitations. I don't recommend trying to bale 30% hay with it unless you are making balage. Yes, sidekick would be great under tree lines to bump up the rate. No, silo King has varying rates per ton. On small squares, I used 2 lb per ton for insurance, hay that I thought was plenty dry. 3 lb per ton on normal baling with humidity and 4+ when we just had to do it wether it be incoming rain or just need to finish a field and get the outside rows. If money allows, I would go with sidekick, but if budget is tight gandy. It's the same as do you want power windows and door locks on your truck.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

haybaler101 said:


> The stuff works, but it does have limitations. I don't recommend trying to bale 30% hay with it unless you are making balage. Yes, sidekick would be great under tree lines to bump up the rate. No, silo King has varying rates per ton. On small squares, I used 2 lb per ton for insurance, hay that I thought was plenty dry. 3 lb per ton on normal baling with humidity and 4+ when we just had to do it wether it be incoming rain or just need to finish a field and get the outside rows. If money allows, I would go with sidekick, but if budget is tight gandy. It's the same as do you want power windows and door locks on your truck.


 I must have been mistaken about the set rate per ton. For alfalfa with moisture in the low 20s what rate per ton would you suggest? Don't know if it makes a difference but my small squares are bundled together in Bale Bandit bundles. What is the maximum percent of moisture that you recommend that I bale with and not have heat damage/spoilage.


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

Your moisture reading is coming from a baler tester and not a lab? I would use 3 lb per ton. Your humidity is probably as much concern as your hay moisture.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

haybaler101 said:


> Your moisture reading is coming from a baler tester and not a lab? I would use 3 lb per ton. Your humidity is probably as much concern as your hay moisture.


 Yep, using in chamber moisture tester.


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

FarmerCline said:


> In what situations do you think you would benefit from being able to the rate adjust on the go? The only situation I can think of is if a windrow along the woods is a little wetter than the rest of the field and wanted to apply at a heavier rate but then again isn't the Silo King supposed to be a set application rate per ton? If I like the product I'm planning on using it on all the alfalfa as an insurance policy since I usually bale with a little moisture to save the leaves. On grass hay I probably won't use it much as I normally don't have trouble getting grass dried down here.
> 
> Budget will allow either applicator......just don't want to spend the extra 1k if I won't use the variable rate feature.


Because I set it high to cover any scenario my thought was if I started earlier in the morning can adjust up and lower it as moisture dropped or vice versa in the evening. Other thought is because a lot of hay is sold out of field there could be the possibility that going over multiple fields in one day one may be lower yield or different moisture maybe just high enough were you would want to put some on but what it is set at is just way over what is needed. I had thought of putting a cheat sheet in the tractor so there was no thinking involved just check moisture meter and set rate as needed.

I only use preserve as needed I don't treat everything and at this point I don't bale with preserve on purpose as in starting early in the day unless I'm experimenting for myself. Most 1st cutting does not get treated except back swaths or on the edge of woods just to make sure. We may go into the evening a little but as soon as the meter hits 18-20% and stays there we are done. Since I got the applicator all 2nd was treated until last year. Last year was so good I never bought any preserve and still have some left over from 2 years ago.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Well I ended up deciding to go with the sidekick applicator.......might should have just saved the 1k and went with the Gandy and blower as I really don't know if I will use the on the go rate adjustment much.....oh well, I guess I will find out this summer if it was worth the extra 1k.

The Silo King man came today to get the applicator installed......seemed to be a really nice guy......even offered to come back to the field in a week or two when I was baling the first time to make sure everything was working as it should.....it was over a 4 hour drive one way for him to come to my place.

This was the first applicator he had installed on an inline baler. Took a little while to figure out how we were going to mount everything as I'm pretty particular but we got it done and it looks good......only had to drill three holes in the baler to get everything mounted up. Now I just have my fingers crossed the product will work as claimed and I will be pleased with it.....I think I'm going to be.


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