Silage a win/win in feed control
Feed coming out your ears?
Grass starting to look a little hairy once the cows have left the paddock? Surplus management is one of the greatest skills of pasture management and is critical to maximise pasture eaten and feed quality. A temporary pasture surplus, if not managed, allows ryegrass to grow to form stem and seed head, resulting in lower pasture quality.
Pasture silage is the most common way of dealing with a surplus in pasture. What is pasture silage? Pasture silage is just pickled grass. When the pasture is ensiled, its sugars are converted to lactic acid by bacteria. The lactic acid is what pickles the pasture and allows it to be preserved for longer than if it was in open air.
Pasture silage is an important source of supplementary feed for when grass growth is less than demand, and making high-quality silage is a win/win for all you farmers out there. High-quality silage results in higher milk solids and body condition gain in cows.
Key points around pasture silage are:
■ Pasture cut for silage must be of high quality
■ Grazing residuals should be 1500-1600 kg DM on paddocks to be closed for silage ■ Silage paddocks should not be closed for any longer than 6-7 weeks
■ Cutting, packing, and covering the stack must be done quickly to reduce spoilage.
■ Take care to minimise losses both at the stack and the paddock/ feed pad.
As to how much silage you should be shutting up, a good rule of thumb is animal demand divided by pasture growth rate. For example: 2.7 cows/ha x 18 kg DM/cow/day = 49 kg DM/ha, this is our animal demand of pasture.
Expected growth rate for the next month average = ~60 kg DM/ha/day.
Percentage of farm to shut up = 1 – (49 kg DM/ha/day / 60 kg DM/ha/day) = 18 per cent of farm. Or on the flip side, think about it like 82 per cent of the farm is required to feed the cows, and thus 18 per cent can be shut up for silage.
Of course, alongside this you should continue monitoring growth rates and keeping an eye on the weather!
It’s looking good in the Bay! There aren’t many places that beat being on farm on a nice day (aside from maybe the boat!).