2024 grass silage quality and the management of it
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Grazing conditions have been pretty good of late and little, or no marking is being done in most areas of the country. This will hopefully leave ground in order as we live in hope of having a better grass year in 2025.
Grass is disappearing fast, however, and stock will begin heading indoors sooner rather than later on many farms.
In dairy herds, the decision will have been made to house by night for management, intake and performance reasons, while in beef herds, as we all know, stock is either in or out, so stretching grass out for a while longer will be the ambition.
That being said, beef animals and replacement heifers have no business outside if they are not gaining frame and weight efficiently.
Pits and bales have been fed all around the country for a good while now, and anyone feeding is well aware of how that silage looks, smells and is storing.
Some of that silage is wet, some is far too dry, there is also a significant amount of clay in silages and many don’t smell great.
The feed value of this year’s silage has been significantly influenced by the weather since the Autumn of 2023. Many early May first cuts are very poor as they got no slurry or Nitrogen early on and were growing since last autumn without being fed.
Second cuts are testing and feeding far better and should, in most yards, be prioritised for milkers or finishers, where possible.
Firstly, testing silage is absolutely a good idea. Some tell me it has to be fed anyway, but why not balance it properly to optimise its value?
When getting silage tested, it is very important that it is as fresh as possible to produce the most accurate result.
Then once you have your silage analysis results, what figures do you look for?
- The pH of silage is the main indicator of preservation and should for good preservation be between 3.8 and 4.2. Dryer silages will be higher in pH but can still be stable.
- The Dry Matter of your silage determines the amount of fresh feed that animals can consume. Many 2024 first-cut silages are very dry and will require careful management at feed-out.
- The use of a shear grab will be a big help to reduce the surface area of the pit face.
- Metabolisable energy (ME) and/or UFL (net energy value) are an indication of the energy that will be available to your animals per kilo of Dry Matter consumed.
- Remember that energy is what produces meat and milk in ruminants, while protein is essential for healthy, productive animals and encourages appetite.
- There is a big variation in silage protein this year, with some as high as 20%, but most are in the 10-13% range. In many cases, extra protein supplementation will be needed at low percentages to maintain animal performance.
- There has been a trend over the last few years for silages to have higher than desired Ash contents. This will be down to field management and weather conditions before, during and at harvest.
- Mowers too tight to the ground, silage fields not rolled, tedders and rakes scratching clay and stones off the ground, all of these contribute to excess ash in silages and contribute to poor preservation, spoilage and poor intakes.
I really cannot emphasise this enough! If moulds and toxins enter an animal’s digestive system, they will cause poor performance as they inhibit the population of good bugs in the rumen.
In many production systems around the world it is common practice to use a toxin binder in diets to prevent both visible and invisible mycotoxins from inhibiting animal performance and compromising animal health.
Heating and significant hotspots on silage pits are never good and are a clear sign that all is not right with clamp preservation and stability. Hot silage and visual mould should never be fed to any animal if it can be avoided.
A good sharp shear grab really is an essential tool to help manage silage well. Removing silage with a loader bucket has the potential to increase losses at feed-out and increase production costs.
It is also a good idea to try to go across the pit as fast as possible to minimise the exposure of silage to the atmosphere. Where silage is proving difficult to manage at the pit face you should aim to get across the pit every two to three days.
With both wet and dry silages, it will be best practice to feed it fresh each day to minimise waste in storage and at the feed trough. Animals will eat fresh feed better than stale material. Managing intakes is the best way to manage animal output.
