Making Silage: The Healthier Solution For Cattle

If you have heard about the term silage, you probably know it’s best for your cattle’s health and would like to make the healthier solution for your cows. However, knowing the proper process is key to making good quality silage.

Checklist for making good silage

Before you know how to make the best quality silage, you should know the things to keep in mind. This section covers those necessities.

• Avoid bad weather at the time of harvest because bad weather can spoil the crop, resulting in poor-quality silage.
• Evaluate the quantity of the crop you are harvesting. After all, you need the top quality silage in maximum amounts.
• Check the condition of the silo, as you will need perfect storage to make the ideal green fodder.
• Check the growth stage of the crop you wish to harvest. It should be cut at the right time, not before, not after.
• Adding molasses, salt, etc., is recommended to help ferment the crop.
• Correctly fill the silo. You should use its capacity to the fullest as leaving spaces allows air to enter and ruin the crop, or worse, the silage quality after it is ready.
• Finally, you need to adequately cover and seal the silo to protect birds and other hungry animals, such as rodents, from breaking in and making holes in the silo. The best practice is to use anti-bird and rodent nets and add an extra seal layer.

Silage-making process in a nutshell

Here’s an easy to understand overview of the silage making process.

Choosing the crops for ensiling: You should always select the crop rich in soluble sugars or CHO, for example, maize.

Stage of harvesting: You should harvest the crop between the flowering and milking stages.

Preparation:

• Select the crop for ensiling at 30-35% DM.
• You must evenly distribute the fodder throughout the silo.
• Pack the crop at the top of the storage 3-4 feet above ground level.
• Cover it with long paddy straw or poor-quality grasses from all sides, then with wet mud and dung to seal and prevent air and water entry. This layer is around 4-5 inches thick.
• The fermentation process starts when the temperature rises to around 27-38 degrees Celsius.
• The silage will be ready in 2 months.

Advantages of silage

To wrap up this article, here are the benefits of silage for cattle feed.

• You can ensile crops when the weather doesn’t allow curing them into hay or dry fodder.
• Using silage typically makes it possible to keep more cattle on a given area of land.
• Silage furnishes high-quality succulent feed for any season of the year at a low expenditure.
• You can make good silage from crops, which would produce poor-quality hay.
• You can store crops from a large area in less space as silage than as dry fodder.

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