Making one big bulky cut, may appear to get you more silage in the yard, however with delayed/late first cut silage, both quality and quantity are compromised. A delayed heavy first-cut reduces annual yield/ha and can create problems when it comes to salvaging second/third-cut crops later in the year. Alongside this, grass growth rates are typically at their highest over the next few weeks, so delaying first cut means that farmers are not taking full advantage of rapid regrowth.

A general rule of thumb is to target a 50:50 split in quantity in both first and second cut (E.g., 20 tonnes per acre to be achieved in total. Ideally, this is a 10-tonne high quality crop in both cuts. Where first-cut is let go to a 13-tonne crop, the ideal quantity of harvest for second-cut crops may only be approximately 7 tonne).

Farms that routinely take earlier first cuts have higher and better-quality annual silage yields. Not only this, but in years such as 2012/13 or 2018 when farmers faced fodder shortages across the country, having higher quality silage was far more valuable. When high-quality silage is available in the yard, options of stretching supply are endless (e.g., dilution with straw, using cheap alternative straights, restricted intakes where headspace is sufficient). However, from a nutritional point of view, the option with poor quality silage is simple, ad-lib access and more meal.

Completing a fodder budget?

A good starting point is how much silage is leftover this spring. Check the current silage stock on your farm. From there, estimate how long you typically feed for in the winter months and always allow for a 3–4-week safety reserve. Finally, complete an assessment of stock numbers that will be carried over the winter months.

Silage requirements based on animal type: 

Measuring pits on farm

Length x breadth x average height in metres, divided by 1.35 = tonnes of grass silage

Or

Length x breadth x average height in feet, divided by 45 = tonnes of grass silage

Can we get more silage in the pit?

Agritech’s GrasZyme Sugarboost is proven to retain a higher proportion of silage in the pit post-harvesting. Losses on average will be reduced by 6.1%, this would equate to 6.1 tonnes of extra silage in every 100 tonnes ensiled. For example 1,000 tonne silage pit, + 61 tonne more available silage. With current silage costs, this would equate to a return on investment of 2:1, before taking animal performance benefits into account from treated silage.

More Information: 

For more information on assessing current silage stocks, and on GrasZyme Sugarboost, contact your local Agritech Sales Advisor.

Silage fields that have not been grazed or that were closed up before the end of March are already at or maybe even slightly beyond optimum quality. The question is ‘do I cut or do I wait?’

To answer the ‘cut or wait’ question, the key factors of quality silage must be taken into consideration. The first and most important factor is cutting date. The second one is the weather conditions. Thirdly, the application of a quality silage additive, and finally, having ticked off all of the above boxes, the silage clamp must be covered and sealed properly.

According to Agritech’s Sales Director, John Kenny, “deferring the cutting date too far may result in additional and unnecessary expense for farmers.”

“Farmers currently have excellent quality material for harvesting and it is a huge pity to let the current fine spell of weather pass without harvesting silage and possibly end up making lower DMD silage in poorer conditions later in the month.    

“I am also concerned that when this spell of dry weather passes, there will be a surge of growth that will also draw more nitrogen up into the plant. This material when harvested, will bring its own issues with regards to fermentation and the making of a palatable feed for livestock”, says John.

With lengthy dry cow periods no longer in existence, quality silage is an essential requirement for the spring calving cow in late lactation and again when freshly calved, as it will help support early lactation body condition, milk yield and to allow the cow to return to cyclicity as quickly as possible.  

For beef cattle, a daily live-weight gain of 0.6 kg is considered the optimum for winter performance where the animals are returning to grass in the spring. Quality silage will again play a key role in achieving this growth level.

Ensiling Process – Key to quality

 “The application of a proven silage additive at ensiling is a very important part of securing as much of the quality in the winter forage as possible. It speeds up the preservation and retains more of the feed value within the pit, in addition to retaining more actual silage in the pit”, says John.

Agritech’s GrasZyme Sugarboost Forage Additive has long proven itself as an effective silage preservation aid. The unique technology used in the additive has been scientifically proven to reduce unnecessary plant breakdown and ensure reliability even in difficult low-sugar conditions.

GrasZyme Sugarboost is independently proven to deliver on key silage additive criteria, namely improved animal performance and reduced dry matter losses.

A total of 19 independent trials have been shown to deliver:

• + 1 litre of milk per cow per day and .09% milk protein increase
• + 110g daily live-weight gain in beef animals
• 6.1% reduction in dry matter losses

The reduction in dry matter losses alone will cover the cost of purchasing the silage additive, with the extra animal performance coming for free.

John concludes, “With farm margins ever reducing, it is no longer economical to use purchased concentrates to offset poorer quality silage. Farmers must now take the opportunity to make the most efficient use possible of homegrown forage and especially grazed grass and grass silage.”

Get in touch

All Agritech sales representatives and distributors are trained to assist farmers in getting the most from their silage. Assistance is available with choosing the best grass mixture, right up to the point of harvest and the use of a quality silage additive.

To find out more about, GrasZyme Sugarboost, click here

To find your local Agritech sales representative/distributor, click here

With increased levels of grass growth on many farms at present, this will give an opportunity for surplus grass to be cut as autumn grass silage. While the quality of this grass silage is excellent, preservation is an issue due to a number of factors.

With rapid growth and the days becoming shorter, this grass contains little fibre and is low in dry matter. As a result, water soluble sugar is limited and the natural lactic bacteria which naturally grow on the grass plants in the summer have lower populations at this time of the year.  

To preserve as much true feeding quality in this silage, it is essential to treat with a good quality silage additive like GrasZyme Sugarboost. This will ensure adequate lactic producing bacteria on the crop, leading to rapid fermentation by using both the water soluble and fructan sugars available in the crop. Speeding up the fermentation process will reduce energy losses and ensure 20% less true protein is broken down, making it more available to livestock. 

By ensuring excellent preservation, each 5 KG of quality silage voluntarily eaten by the animal = a saving of 1 KG of purchased ration per day of feeding.

Maize Silage

It is also looking like another bumper year for maize crops in terms of quality and yield. Maize silage is one of the most complementary feeds to grass silage as it is high in starch and fibre and is slowly digested in the rumen. Cows fed maize silage as part of their total forage intake have reported milk yield increases of 8%-10%, and cattle have shown increased daily live weight gains.  

Maize silage is an expensive crop to grow and ensile, so pit preservation is critical. Here are some clamping tips to reduce ensileable losses:

1. Ensure pit and loading area are clean.
2. Use side sheeting down by the wall, leaving sufficient plastic to reach half way across the clamp from both side walls.
3. Apply an additive at harvest that has proven to maintain pit face stability at feed out for up 10 days e.g. Ensile Bio
4. Consolidate the clamp well and ensure a level finish.
5. Use three sheets of high quality plastic [one being a vacuum sheet]. Seal down well with sand bags and tyres.
6. Protect the clamp from bird damage by applying Zill cover.
7. Keep a straight, clean clamp face at feed out.
8. Bait the surroundings well to prevent rodent damage.

Pit face stability is extremely important as the energy lost will not only reduce animal feed intake but will also lead to valuable energy losses from the clamp. Untreated clamps are at a high risk of secondary heating which can cause between 10% and 24% waste.

Ensile Bio is designed to preserve the crop in the shortest time possible and does so by producing acids which minimise the growth of yeast and moulds that naturally grow on high dry matter starch crops. By producing these acids rapidly, it ensures a stable pit face at feed out for up to 10 days.

The value per acre of maize is €900 plus harvest and the clamping cost of €150 gives a total of €1050 per acre. At 10% spoilage, this equates to €105 per acre of feed that the animals don’t eat. An ensile cost of €35 per acre for a 20 tonne crop is a very cheap insurance on a valuable winter feed.

For any further advice on grass or maize silage or to choose a suitable forage additive, contact your local Agritech distributor or click here.

In a recent interview in the Irish Farmers Journal, Agritech’s technical director Seamus O’Slatarra talked about how silage additives have evolved in recent years and why using additives are an essential ingredient in getting the most from grass silage. Additives work by retaining silage quality as close as possible to the grass being harvested and aim to avoid ensiling losses.

There is also ample data to show that milk protein, live weight gain and dry matter ensiling benefits from the use of a reputable silage additive. Indeed, Agritech’s GrasZyme SugarBoost Forage Additive for grass silage has been developed for effective grass preservation with animal performance as its primary focus.

Read the full article on the Irish Farmers Journal website.

Or view a pdf of the article (208kB).