A testimonial from Dr. Günter Pahlow, Federal Agricultural Research Centre in Braunschweig and Ludwig Brüggemann, contractor from Elze, Niedersachsen (Germany)

"Practitioners tend to work with six layers. Six layers are as a rule sufficient to produce high quality bales silage for cattle with dry matter content not higher than 40%-45% as long as older, more fibrous crops are not used." For silage for horses Dr. Pahlow says there are different pre-requisites. In this instance contractors should use more than six layers to be able to guarantee top fodder quality - which can be sold at a premium price.

Contractor Ludwig Brüggemann from Elze (Niedersachsen) agrees: "For horses we use six to eight layers to guarantee against moulding. People producing bale silage as marketable fodder for horses - who are dealing with dryer, rougher material which contains more crude fibre - have to bear in mind that the desired mould-free quality often cannot be achieved with six layers. Particularly for horse feeding, private contractors should use more than six layers in order to guarantee faultless fodder quality."

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Benefits from applying additional film layers
The application of an additional two layers of film, from four to six, has become more popular in recent years as it has been shown to provide a more robust oxygen barrier resulting in less spoilage of bales by yeasts and moulds, as well as more stable and consistent silage at feed out. Recent research at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER) evaluating film layering at different dry matter contents, has given conclusive evidence that increasing film layers result in significant improvements and financial returns for farmers. Read more

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