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Assuming your wholecrop silage yields 10T per acre and is 35% DM then every acre has the potential to feed 3 cows over a 3 month winter.
How does wholecrop silage compare to grass silage?
The feeding value of whole crop cereal silage can vary from inferior to grass silage to being superior, with the difference in nutritive value being predominantly
determined by the content of the developed grain.
Winter wheat and spring barley, both at 50% grain in the harvested DM, can have similar and excellent nutritive value.
To get the best from your wholecrop keep if for your freshly calved cows. It works well with grass silage when being fed 50:50 or as a buffer once cows go
out to grass. As wholecrop is lower in protein you will need to use higher protein balancer feeds.
Can I feed wholecrop to my dry cows?
Poorer grain yielding crops could be used in dry cow diets but your cows will need a protein source to fill the protein deficit.