Rules for Silage

Rules for Silage

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
In keeping with a common theme that I have been espousing, that being that if you are going to be a successful farmer you practically have to be a genius, I learned that there is even a scientific strategy for harvesting and storing silage. Dr. Wayne Coblentz who is a research agronomist and dairy scientist with the US Dairy Forage Research Center  is currently doing research into the investigation of changes in nutritional characteristics of forages as a result of agronomic inputs, climate, and post-harvest management. He has some fundamental rules and here they are: The lower moisture levels of baleage itself will restrict fermentation. Usually the drier the material gets, the more you restrict fermentation. With baled silage you don’t get any chopping action, so the sugars that are inside the plant, which are the substrate for fermentation, must diffuse and come in contact with the lactic acid producing bacteria that are adhered to the outside of the plant; this further restricts fermentation. Ideally you want to establish conditions in each bale where desirable micro-organisms proliferate, specifically lactic acid producing bacteria.
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