increase font size
Quality silage is made from quality pasture.
Quality silage is a stable feed made from quality pasture preserved in the absence of oxygen by quality fermentation to minimise any loss of feeding value, says DairyNZ.
It is impossible to produce quality silage from poor quality pasture, no matter how good the fermentation is. Both the quality of the ensiled pasture and the quality of the fermentation must be considered. These can be measured by having a feed analysis done on your silage.
With well preserved silage, losses in feeding value during fermentation will be small, and the final silage will be only slightly lower in feeding value than the original pasture.
The quality of the fermentation tells us how well the quality of the original pasture has been preserved in the silage:
pH: The lactic acid produced during fermentation causes a decrease in pH. A low pH will prevent an unwanted butyric fermentation, which reduces the feeding value and palatibility of the silage. Low DM silage needs a lower pH than high DM silage.
Ammonia-N: Low values for ammonia-N indicate minimal breakdown of protein in the silage, usually because pH has fallen quickly to a low level in the silage.
Lactic and butyric acids: High concentrations of lactic acid are seen in well preserved silage. High levels of butyric acid are found in poorly preserved silage, and indicate that an unwanted butyric fermentation has occurred.
Assessing by sight, smell
If you don't have a feed analysis for your silage you can estimate quality from its appearance.
Feed quality: High quality silage contains lots of leaf and very little stem. The more stem in silage the poorer its quality.
Colour: Well-preserved silages are green, yellow or pale brown. Dark brown silage is generally poorly preserved. Smell: Well preserved silage has a sweet, tobacco smell. Foul, rancid smells indicate the presence of butyric acid from poor preservation.
Moulds: These grow where silage has been exposed to air. Some fungi can produce toxins.
Quality silage can support high milk production. In England, 560kg Friesian cows have eaten 16kg DM/day as pasture silage (approx 11 MJ ME/kg DM, 7% Ammonia-N) and produced 1.6kgMS/day for 14 weeks without losing body condition.
When silage is fed to cows as a sole diet, intake is generally lower than that of fresh pasture. Increasing the ammonia-N from 5% to 10% can result in a 5-10% drop in DM intake. A 5% decrease in digestibility (from 70% to 65%) can cause a 2kgDM/day drop in DM intake. Feeds of lower digestibility provide the cow with less nutrients for milk production. A 5% drop in silage digestibility for a 200 tonne silage stack (50 tonne DM) could result in 300kg less milksolids produced, and 450kg liveweight loss, if fed to milking cows. Low quality silage (made from low quality pasture, or ensiled with low quality fermentation, or both) will not support high milk yields. In fact many silages made on dairy farms in New Zealand are only suitable for maintaining cows.
In New Zealand, every dairy farmer worth their salt knows just how important it is to look after the welfare of their animals. The health of the herd directly impacts profit margins, which, in turn, determines the viability and sustainability of the farm.
Winners of DairyNZ’s Sustainability and Stewardship awards in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards have their eyes firmly fixed on progressing a positive future for New Zealand dairy.
New data released by LIC and DairyNZ shows New Zealand dairy farmers have achieved the highest six week in-calf rate and lowest notin- calf rate on record.
DairyNZ has appointed Jacqueline Rowarth as its first deputy board chair.
DairyNZ board and leadership team were in Wellington late last month to relay what farmers see as priority areas for easing the regulatory burden on dairy farming.
The Ministry for the Environment (MfE) has found itself in a stoush with NZPork over the controversial National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land (NPS-HPL).
Fonterra says the sale of its global consumer business and its Oceania and Sri Lankan operations could take 18 months to complete.
The lobby group the Methane Science Accord (MSA) says it welcomes a recent government move to seek outside advice on reducing biological methane targets, rather than relying on recommendations made by the Climate Change Commission.
Well-known scientist Jock Allison has passed away.
After a decade of consultation and court battles, Environment Southland has officially adopted a plan to prevent further decline in the region's water quality.
Farmers are throwing down the gauntlet to politicians - hold an independent inquiry into rural bank lending or face tough questions from the farming sector.
OPINION: Scientists claim to have found a new way to make a substitute for cow's milk that could have a…
OPINION: The Irish have come up with a novel way to measure cow belching, which is said to account for…
