Producers urged to optimise nutrition to prevent lameness
There’s a identified link between nutrition and lameness…
A New Concept In Silage Preservation
Good quality silage is like liquid gold – not only is it beneficial to rumen health, it boosts feed intake and productivity, while also lowering costs of production.
Good quality silage is like liquid gold – not only is it beneficial to rumen health, it boosts feed intake and productivity, while also lowering costs of production.
But it can be notoriously challenging to make, varying according to growing season, clamp preparation and face management. And after all the hard work of making good quality forage, farmers often find a depressing amount goes to waste through aerobic spoilage and mould.
However, with a little attention to detail it is possible to make consistently good silage, and keep it in perfect condition, as Paul Roper, farm manager at Leweston Farm, Sherborne, Dorset, has found. With 370 pedigree Holstein cows plus 350 youngstock on the 640-acre farm, he has to maximise the volume and quality of all his homegrown forage. “We cut silage before turning the cows out at the end of May.”
Silage Production
The cows calve all year round and are split into high yielding and low yielding groups. They are all housed over the winter, with the high yielding group kept inside all year round and fed on a total mixed ration plus cake in the parlour. Mr Roper grows about 140 acres of maize for silage, plus 90 acres of feed wheat, some of which is fed, and 410 acres of grass.
“We reseed about every five years, or when needed, and don’t use any Italian ryegrass because I think it’s too stemmy. Perennial ryegrass has a lot more leaf which is where the quality is greatest, and we add in Timothy and sometimes clover as well.” Paul analyses his soil every three years, and applies Triple Super Phosphate and Muriate of Potash in the spring where needed. He also applies ammonium nitrate with sulphur in early March, and tops up with straight AN throughout the season. “I find adding sulphur is very good for grass yields and protein content –and we also have a lot of slurry which we apply using a trailing shoe.”
First cut silage was made on 7 May and 17 May last year, and Paul always leaves about 6cm of aftermath to allow for rapid regrowth before grazing. We didn’t make the second cut until early July last year as nothing really grew due to the weather – normally we would cut after five or six weeks.” Third cut is normally made in the first week of September, with maize harvested in late September or early October.
As well as looking at grass growth stage and weather windows before cutting, Paul tests the grass for nitrates, dry matter, protein, D Value and sugars. “You want the nitrates to be low, especially if it has a low dry matter, otherwise it is more likely to become butyric.” With a combination of farm staff and contractors, three clamps are produced at the home farm, with another two nearby for young stock. “We front buck rake it when it comes in, and use a telehandler to compact it down – if you don’t keep rolling it, there will be too much air in the clamp.”
Each of the clamps is roofed, which provides extra protection over and above the ClampFilm. “You don’t get deterioration from sun or rain, we can store straw bales on top of the silage, and we can use the buildings for storage and calf housing when they are empty.” First, second and third cut silage tend to go into separate clamps, with maize into its own clamp. “We feed first cut to the high yielders, and mix first and second cut to eke out supplies later in the season.” Third cut silage goes to young stock. “It can be quite difficult to manage so many clamps – I just have to remember what I’ve got where.”
Safesil
In 2010 Paul decided to try Safesil, a new concept in silage preservation. Instead of adding ‘good’ bacteria to outcompete the ‘bad’ bacteria, which cause butyric silage and moulds, Safesil uses a food-grade preservative which eradicates all the major spoilage organisms. “On one gram of grass there are about 10 million micro-organisms, of which the less desirable are usually in the majority, comprising Enterobacteria, Clostridia, yeasts and moulds,” says David Warner, area sales manager at supplier Kelvin Cave Ltd.
“Safesil wipes out the unwanted organisms which are responsible for heating of silage at the clamp face and during feeding out. By creating a good environment for lactic acid bacteria to achieve a rapid reduction of pH, it eliminates the risk of butyric acid production, which lowers the nutritional value and palatability of silage. You get more rapid and hygienic fermentation, preventing dry matter and energy losses. You will typically get 5-6% more energy in the sample, which equates to £20 more milk per tonne of fresh silage.”
The Results
Paul was so pleased with the results on his maize silage, he tried the product on grass last year, and made some of his best silage ever, applying Safesil onto the grass at 2.5 litres/t for first cut, 3 litres/t for second cut as its drier, and 1 litre for maize.
The first cut silage came in at 33% dry matter, with crude protein of 18.4%, a D Value of 76, and an excellent metabolisable energy of 12.1 MJ. Second cut averaged 41.8% dry matter, with crude protein at 14.8%, D Value of 71 and an ME of 11MJ. “The pH was four, which was well controlled, considering the high dry matter.” Maize silage was similarly pleasing, at 29.4% dry matter, 8.5% protein, D Value of 67, starch at 27.7% and 10.9MJ ME. “It really was an excellent year."
Paul feeds the cows once a day with a total mixed ration comprising 22kg of maize silage, 20kg of grass (fresh weight), 2kg of caustic wheat, 2kg of sugar beet, 11/2kg of soya, plus minerals and other additives. They also receive 18% high digestible fibre cake in the parlour, according to yield. “I’m doing everything I can to be rumen friendly, and reduce the risk of acidosis,” he says. “I want healthy, happy cows that will ruminate well and produce high milk yields with high butterfat contents.”
And he’s succeeding – the herd’s average lactation is 9,888 litres at 4% butterfat and 3.1% protein – with 3,200 litres coming from forage. As well as producing top quality silage, the Safesil is preserving it far better too, he adds. “I’ve got at least three clamps open, and we’re bringing third cut silage onto the farm every three days, and it’s not going off. In the clamp it is definitely keeping cooler, and there’s better retention of dry matter. Our dry matter intakes are higher as a result – if you have something that’s starting to go off, the cows don’t want to eat it. There also has to be a natural health advantageto not having any mould in your silage.”
The Safesil is more expensive than conventional inoculants, at a cost of £4/t of first cut silage, says Mr Roper. “It takes a bit of getting your head round, however, it’s what the cows do on that silage that counts, and if you’re getting £20 more milk per tonne, the figures speak for themselves.”
But it is not a silver bullet, he warns. “At the end of the day, silage is only as good as the grass you harvest. We work hard to grow grass as well as we can – and we want to keep as much of that goodness in it as possible.”
Case Study from Safesil, Kelvin Cave Ltd.
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