Essential Silage 2025 Update:

At the start of the green harvest, the message of safe silage carting needs to be reiterated to farmers and contractors. We can of course talk about speeds and weights and we will, but the biggest change we are seeing in the agricultural transport sector is the authorities exercising their rights to stop and check. So do we know what they are looking for?

We do of course.

A well maintained machine with the industry-standard Tilly Pass service and maintenance should also have recorded proof of daily and regular interval checks. Daily checks can be found on https://www.tillypass.co.uk/head-to-tow-1

Changes of combination should never be taken on face value. After changes the new operator is required by law to carry out their own check. Machines should also display a full set of lights along with a number plate which should be clean and visible. The combination should also be travelling at the correct speed, not overloaded, and should be sheeted or strapped as required.

So where is the confusion?

Well its understanding that once a trailer is hitched to a tractor the combination is then governed to a limit of 20mph - or in the case of a Unimog or JCB Fastrac towing on full commercial brakes a limit of 25mph. Not at any time should an operator exceed this speed.

Load security:

The security of your load is something that has been very much in the press with high profile legal cases bringing home the reality of life changing and fatal crashes. The essential message for this silage season is if you remove your sheet roll to add silage sides then you must observe the 18" ullage.

Ullage is the gap between the top of your load and the top of the trailer. Loose loads like silage should be treated much like a straw or hay load with heightened awareness of excessive blowout during transport.

You must have a flashing amber beacon on your tractor and/or trailer travelling at the aforementioned speed and it should be visible for 360° in a horizontal plane. Loading a trailer so that the beacon is obscured is illegal, and in the case of high silage sides being added there is a need for a rear flashing beacon to be working.

Trailer weights:

18.29 tonne. This is the maximum weight for an agricultural trailer combined with the machine. Our advice to operators is to know the weight of the machine by checking the plate or manual and running (if possible) the first load over a weigh bridge. Then, operators know the approximate limit of the load by sight, rather than filling the trailer to its volume.

We should be aware of machines skidding on wet grass as they leave fields, and it should be noted that trailers have been know to push through hedges onto roads when out of control.

Contact us at tillypass@gmail.co.uk for more information.