Reducing the number of slugs in the silage

The Swedish Rural Economy and Agricultural Societies carried out a project with support from the Swedish Farmers' Foundation for Agricultural Research. The summary of the project is

“Spanish slug, nicknamed as "killer slug", had until the summer of 2007 not caused any known problems in agriculture. Then came reports of problems in leys with large quantities of slugs and slugs mixing into the harvested silage. The aim of the project was to demonstrate whether it is possible to reduce the mixing of slugs in the green mass by adjusting the harvest technology. The study show that slugs of different species in the silage at the pressing can be reduced if the harvested material lies one day instead of three days in the windrows. Scattering of the row at mowing can reduce slug involvement further compared with swathing directly at mowing. Three trials were carried out in the project.”