7 Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Silage

 

Silage has many benefits for dairy animals, such as higher milk production and good health. But committing these seven mistakes will result in ineffective silage. That's why Silage Agro Private Limited is sharing these seven mistakes that we avoid as silage manufacturers, and so you should too.  

7 Mistakes That You Must Avoid Ruin Your Silage

These are the seven mistakes also known as silage sins. We at Silage Agro Private Limited strongly advise you not to commit these sins to produce effective Silage for Animals.

Leaving dead grass in the sward: - You cannot stop mold growth in the grass, but you should do your best to reduce it in your Silage Bales. It is strongly advised to avoid leaving dead grass in the sward because any surplus grass left unchecked will die and nourish mold and other unnecessary bacteria that will remain until harvest.

Removing extra grass can lead to less mold growth. You can remove this grass by topping or grazing. Furthermore, studies have also shown that leaving surplus grass reduces grass growth in the spring, resulting in less grass yield.     

Harvesting grass that is over mature: - Another horrible mistake that allows molds to invade your silage is harvesting grass that is over mature. Sometimes this is unavoidable due to weather conditions, or you need a mature low D value meal to feed certain animals such as dry suckler cows. However, farmers usually do this to increase crop output even if the quality is compromised.

The issue with this practice is that as forage matures, the vegetative parts of the crop die and become vulnerable to the fungal virus's growth. These are invisible to the eye and will enable other fungi to rest on the forage, increasing fungal propagules.   

Leaving cut grass in a narrow swath to wilt: - If you leave your cut grass in a narrow swath, this will again lead to mold infection in your Wheat Silage. Narrow swaths have a high density that results in high temperature and humidity, enabling bacteria to survive. Additionally, these swaths decrease wind efficiency in drying the crop.

We recommend you spread your grass over 80 to 100% of the harvested area as soon as possible after mowing, but you must ensure that this is done within 2 hours. It will help in rapid wilting and also allow the sun to decrease mold growth.

Wrapping in the field: - We mentioned what you should avoid preventing mold growth. So far, the remaining 4 points talk about what not to do to prevent oxygen from feeding such mold. It is strongly advised to wrap the bales as fast as possible, and you may think that wrapping in the field is a good idea, but it can be risky.

The first risk is holed getting punctured in the wrapped bale. If we drop it in the field, this can be either by stones or stubbles. When you take such bales to the stacking site, you can make the damage even worse. If this goes unnoticed, then excess oxygen will enter the bale, increasing mold growth.

Not moving bales after wrapping: - We would strongly advise you to take your wrapped bales to the stacking area as quickly as possible, best within 2 hours. If it is not possible, then you should move the bales within 8 hours.

However, some farmers leave the bales for two weeks but moving the bales allows excess oxygen. By grabbing your bales, you are squeezing the carbon dioxide out of the bales creating a vacuum within which extra oxygen enters, leading to the growth of unwanted bacteria.

Spiking a bale whether it's wrapped or not: - You should never spike a bale whether it is wrapped or not. Some of you may think that it's acceptable to spike an unwrapped bale to take it to the wrapper. But this is disastrous. A bale is a densely packed lot of fodder from which a lot of oxygen is already out. Spiking it results in oxygen entering back, and you know the rest of the story. Furthermore, this creates more holes while moving a spiked bale, leading to more problems. In short, oxygen does its job of mold creation before it's used up after wrapping.

When you spike a wrapped bale, you are puncturing a film that acts as an oxygen barrier. Even if you patch the holes, these will not be as effective as the original coating. It is advised to use a bail grab instead.  

Not netting the bales: - You would not want to let birds and vermin damage your silage bale created with hard work, will you? But farmers still do not net the bales to give protection from birds and vermin; these creatures won't even think once before damaging your silage bales with holes. Instead, birds and vermin will either use feet or beaks to puncture your well-wrapped bales.

So why allow birds and vermin to damage your hard work? Instead, put a strong net around your bales for protection against birds and vermin. It's that simple.