Silage

Maximizing your silage space can allow producers to – quite literally – pack more tons of valuable feed into the same space. With a little advance planning, the result can be thousands of dollars more in feed without any additional real estate.

Minimizing soil content of forages should be the goal of every forage producer and dairy farm. This is because soil contamination of forages can add to the total ash or mineral content, which dilutes the energy and nutritive value of forages.

Every dairy farmer knows high-quality forage is essential on a successful dairy farm. The milk dairy cows produce is dependent on the nutrients the cow receives, making high-quality forage a key consideration in a dairy operation.

As feed prices continue to rise, dairy farmers face increased difficulties in providing their herds with nutritious, cost-effective food. A possible remedy for this situation is shredlage, a new way for harvesting and processing corn.

The quality of silage has a direct impact on animal performance and cost of production; therefore, it is important to know how to diagnose silage problems to apply the correct treatment. Here’s what you need to know to self-diagnose silage problems:

Fermentation is loosely defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen (anaerobic). Natural fermentation happens in all aspects of nature and even in the gastrointestinal tracts of animals and humans.