Silage analysis YTD

• DMD is up on last year with 2024 having nearly 50% of the silages analysed at over 70%.  Be cautious with dry cow diets.  We don’t want fat cows calving down
• But it bodes well for the spring and any potential milk that has to come from silage based diets

CP is down slightly but ammonia levels are also down and protein quality or PDIE is up

DM has trended up again this year and this has been a consistent trend since 2021

No doubt climate changed linked

But it may have implications for us.  Once silage DM passes the low 30s in DM it is much harder to consolidate pits.  O2 can penetrate pit faces easier at feed out and silage heating is more probable.

The narrative has always been only to consider using a silage additive when the weather is poor but with these DM an additive could be needed as standard to prevent heating.