Read the current Progressive Forage digital edition

breadcrumbs

Harvest & Storage

Forage quality doesn’t increase after harvest, so it’s critical to achieve optimal harvest and store it right to reduce loss. Let our experts tell you how.

LATEST

Harvest & Storage

One of the reasons for the popularity of large round hay bales is its low labor demand. Harvesting and storing round bales only requires one to two people; whereas, two to four people are often needed to harvest and store small square bales.

Harvest & Storage

With fall weather here, frost warnings are on the way. Producers often question the investment value of inoculating frosted forage that has been lying in a swath or windrow for several days. To determine the best course of action, assess the degree of damage to the crop. If you don’t see mold, ensiling is an option. However, if you see mold, ensiling may not be an option

When you are bailing as dry hay or disposal, there are two reasons to have a highly researched inoculant product on frosted forages:

1. Strains can quickly dominate fermentation over undesirable epiphytic (background) microbial populations that come in with the crop

2. Inoculants provide more efficient utilization of fermentation sugars on the crop

The ensiling process involves a bacterial population and a substrate source in the form of soluble sugars to produce sufficient concentrations of silage acids in an effort to reach a desirable terminal pH.

Laying hay in swaths or windrows for several days under certain conditions, such as rain, can cause leeching of the crop’s sugars. According to Pioneer’s technical service sample database, the average soluble sugar concentration of pre-ensiled alfalfa is 10 percent. Rainy weather, for example, will result in forages entering the silo with sugar levels at some concentration less than 10 percent. Frosting over an extended period could have a similar effect.

The bacterial population that comes with the crop, known as epiphytes, generally increases with frosted forages. This doesn’t mean the increased epiphytic colony-forming units (cfu) will make the crop ferment faster. In fact, many of the additional soilborne bacteria are inefficient at helping with fermentation and generate excessive heat during the ensiling process.

Highly researched bacteria in inoculants better utilize the remaining sugars in frosted forages, ensuring efficient fermentation. Relying on epiphytic populations that came with the crop can be inefficient and may exhaust the plant sugars before achieving a desirable terminal pH level.

Silage fermentation is a highly complex process dependent on many variables that are exacerbated by stresses such as frost. Epiphytes coming in with the crop are constantly changing, and inoculation minimizes the variability of this factor. Pioneer’s forage additive researchers select inoculants to work across a wide variety of conditions, and even outside of this range, these inoculants are better than gambling on nature.

One of the research criteria for choosing the strain combinations in inoculant products is their ability to dominate quickly over the epiphytic population coming in with the crop, resulting in highly efficient fermentation.

With fall weather here, frost warnings are on the way. Producers often question the investment value of inoculating frosted forage that has been lying in a swath or windrow for several days.

Harvest & Storage

Value of processing and starch content
In the current economy, it’s even more essential to get all of the nutrient value out of harvested corn silage.

Harvest & Storage

The height and frequency that you harvest grass can affect yield, quality and the longevity of your grass hayfields and pastures.

Harvest & Storage

First off, a quick review of the basics. Then I’ll answer some of the questions I hear regularly concerning forage testing and the results.

Harvest & Storage

Many growers today are looking for ways to maximize corn yields and on-farm profitability, whether that means increasing milk production, reducing ration costs or boosting weight gain in beef cattle.