ABSTRACT
This chapter characterizes the silage process and their variants, depending on the crop and the silage procedure. It analyzes the new tendencies for improving the use of the equipment, which is mainly linked to the improvement of the organization of the work. Silage is a preservation process that allows high quality forage, which is produced seasonally, to be available all year round. The objective of the forage conditioners is to accelerate the loss of water contained within the plant tissue favoring its evaporation, thereby increasing the concentration of nutrients after mowing, and the quality of the silage is improved by favoring the rapid reduction in pH. Harvesting forage requires perfect coordination between several different pieces of equipment in order to avoid bottlenecks. Bottlenecks within transport can reduce the capacity of harvest operations. On an operational level, it is necessary to develop decision support tools which facilitate the management of the fleet of vehicles participating in the harvesting process.
