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The time is almost upon us when we will be considering harvesting for first cut silage. Whilst it has been a long winter and grass growth this spring has been slow, it is important to maintain a keen eye on grass growth and silage quality. To maximise silage quality it is essential to cut young, leafy crops with little stem lengthening or thickening. If your target silage digestibility is 70% then the crop needs to be cut at 72% D as approximately 2 units of D are lost during ensilage. It is worth remembering that the difference between 65 D and 70 D silage is worth 1.25 litres of milk/cow/d or 0.2 kg and 0.1 kg live weight gain in beef cattle and sheep respectively. Now is probably the most important time of the year as silage makes a significant proportion of the total annual feed and thus silage quality can make the difference between profit and loss. Cut the crop when it’s dry in the sward. Depending on field conditions and grass cover, leave between 2 and 3.5 inches of stubble, with the higher stubble height for new leys and wet conditions. By following this guidance you reduce the risks of soil contamination and thus poor fermentation and increase crop recovery thus increasing the total annual forage yields. Once cut it’s essential to spread the crop, doing so significantly increases the speed of drying. The pores on the leaves only stay open for 2 hours after cutting, whilst open, wilting is 5 times faster than whilst they are closed, so the quicker the crop is spread the better. Experiments conducted at Aberystwyth have shown spreading the crop improves drying times irrespective of whether or not the crop is rained on, with a dry matter difference between spreading and not spreading over an 8 h day of about 2%. Rapid wilting of the crop reduces field losses and the populations of undesirable micro-organisms and increases silage quality and intake potential of the silage to livestock. |
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