Should you Consider Ensiling Cereals to Replenish Depleted Silage Stocks?

With what looks to be another dry summer, following the drought of last year, silage stocks could be short this year. It makes sense to consider ensiling your own cereals if you grow some.  

If you are ensiling wholecrop there is a relatively small window to get the best results so watch it closely! It can change from too soon to too late in literally a matter of a couple of days, depending on the weather, and can have a massive impact on the winter ahead.

Cut it too soon and you don’t get the starch you want in the grain and cut it too late and the starch levels maybe higher in the grain, but the grain becomes undigestible and so passes straight through the cow. Neither is an ideal situation.

The ideal stage to cut is around 40% dry matter for the crop, but use the grain as your guide.  Even if the rest of the plant looks a bit green cut when the grain is at that “soft cheddar” stage, even if you have a mixed wholecrop, i.e. barley & vetch. Be guided by your cereal grain for when the right time to harvest is.

Wholecrop silage can be one of the most challenging crops to ensile because of the higher dry matter content, and the potential for growth of spoilage organisms, yeasts and moulds.  This can cause heating and therefore the loss of valuable nutrients, and so therefore using an additive at the time of ensiling is incredibly important.

A review of 256 additive trials (Jones R, IGER 2005) showed that bacterial inoculant treated silages had higher DM digestibility and reduced levels of protein degradation.  The average response in milk production trials was over 1.5 litres of milk/cow/day.  If you quickly do the sums on this there is potentially a massive return in your investment of using an additive on wholecrop silage.

Then once in the pit, and well rolled and consolidated, the pit then needs to be covered effectively to make it as airtight as possible to ensure an anaerobic fermentation.  The best sheets for doing this are oxygen barrier sheets, and if you are only covering the pit once and looking to reduce your plastic usage on farm then I would have to recommend you use a Silostop Orange sheet, along with the SupaCova UV covers, as these have been proven to be a great combination for clients.

If, however you are not looking to invest in a new cover/net then look to use the Silostop MAX Sheet, and cover with a traditional net.

We can supply a range of additives, sheets, nets/covers and gravel bags available to meet your needs.  Everything you should need to harvest your wholecrop, apart from maybe the ideal weather window!  Contact Louise Cox on 07943 684215 or e-mail louise@dblbuyinggroup.co.uk