It is vitally important to get silage tested in order to plan for the season ahead
- Well preserved silage is more palatable and will result in higher animal intake and performance.
- The PH of well-preserved silage should be in the region of 3.8 and 4.2, Dry baled silage can reach a PH as high as 4.7.
- Low PH values indicate very acidic silage and may result in a reduced rumen function causing acidosis. The addition of rumen buffers are advisable in these cases.
- This low PH is similar to the rumen’s response following the intense feeding of high cereal diets. In this case we include LithoNutri slow-release rumen buffer, which is a harvested marine substance, we find this highly effective.
- Ammonia levels of less than 10% are desirable while levels of greater than 15% can indicate bad preservation this reading can also be used to show at the presence of nitrogen in the grass during the cutting process.
- High PH indicates poor or secondary fermentation resulting in high levels of butyric acid present.
- Butyric acid has a sharp, sour smell and is often found in wetter silages where lactic acid cannot complete the preservation process due to the presence of water being an inhibitor.
Energy
- The ME Value refers to metabolizable energy. This is the energy value available to the animal after losses to faeces and urine.
- Higher ME value the better
- Usual ME value between 10-11 MJ/KG. May be lower this year due to absence of sunlight during cutting period leading to reduced sugar also.
- Links are usually seen between ME NDF(Fibre) and DMD. Higher ME levels will usually see higher DMD’s also, but lower Fibre levels should be present with this as the presence of Leafy grass with high sugars will see lower fibre levels also.
- Grazing silage ground is seen to provide numerous advantages when attempting to make good quality silage.
- Feb/March is the ideal time to do this as it eliminates any dead organic material.
- 4cm is the optimum height to graze to
- Provides grass with the opportunity to produce a short leafy sward which will result in the higher quality product.
- Grazing silage ground can lead to a rise in DMD by as much as 6-8%.
- Application of slurry and fertiliser and fertiliser should be done as early as feasible depending on ground conditions.
- Reseeded ground is proven to react more effectively and efficiently to fertiliser applications.
- Once the heading out stage is reached silage quality/DMD drops by 0.5% per day or 5% per week. This can be a huge issue during wet spells i.e. 2019 seen DMD’s greatly reduced due to a shorter cutting window.
Protein
- Typical Crude Protein levels in Ireland range between 11-15% Crude protein can be used to accurately reflect the quality of grass at harvest.
- Short young leafy grass will give readings of 15% and over while stemmy grass will give levels of <10%
- Young perennial ryegrass swards cut 6 weeks after fertiliser application should have DMD’s of 75% – 80%. This type of silage will provide top animal performance.
Dry Matter
- Dry matter levels are often determinants of intake and preservation levels.
- Intake levels will be higher on higher dry matter silages of 20%+
- Very wet and very dry silages will see reduced intakes.
- Due to the bulk fill of wet silage, the animal will not be able to consume enough to reach their targets.
DMD
- This is the overall measure of quality which determines intake and energy values per kg of DM. This result is used to determine liveweight gain and Milk Yield as well as required supplement levels to meet goals.
- 70%+ DMD is the target