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Currently dairy farmers need to make a decision: either stick with it and grow or stop. Those who stick with it must examine all cost reduction possibilities and increase performance and quality. Increasingly the animals require the production of high-quality, special forage optimized for each stage of their annual production cycle. Opportunities open up for bale silage which is more flexible to meet those demands and very often more cost-effective than frequently believed. However this does suppose that good bale silage production methods have been mastered. Distinction of silage quality for different feeding needs Each performance step in dairy cow feeding differs in its demands – not only regarding energy but also nutrient content. The anionic/cationic balance is for example very important for milk fever prevention during the drying-off feeding period. The feeding demands of dry-cows for greater performance should also no longer be left to chance, as it is still often the case during animal grazing. Feeding highyielding lactating cows should imperatively meet the specific animal needs, especially during the transition period between summer and winter-feeding. Frequently, it is too early to start using clamp silage since losses are too big due to low feed-out rates and aerobic deterioration. Depending on the size, dairy farms frequently use bales to produce top-quality 1st cut grass silage for newly lactating cows during this transition feeding period between summer and winter regimes. For calf feeding, only special forage or dry maize silage can be considered, whose quality is adjusted to the animals’ needs. Use of maize (wet maize) pressed pulps or TMR in silage production It is well known that bale silage is sensitive to aerobic deterioration with heating and possible mould growth. Add to this the relatively small amounts fed per period of time, resulting in a large potential benefit of baled silage with regard to the production of small silage amounts. The techniques required for preparing bale silage already exist and have been thoroughly tested in the field. Clamps currently house the majority of silage made from maize, corn, and pressed pulp. In the future, the increasing individual animal output expectations will require a differentiated supply of various maize silage or corn qualities better meeting the requirements of the lactation periods in high-performance dairy cows. This means that e.g. during the high yielding lactation period, a type with a better-digestible residual plant than during the previous lactation period will be used. Here too, the preparation of individual silage bales seems appropriate. Smaller herd sizes frequently maintained as a secondary income will become a reality especially in southern Germany. Due to industrial and animal-physiological reasons the total mix ratio (TMR) in the form of individual silage bales already available today will acquire certain significance in this case. Dr. Johannes Thaysen, Chamber of Agriculture of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany |
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