The importance of knowing your silage quality

Silage quality is key to good animal performance, reducing winter feed costs and increasing profitability during the housing period. Right now, you cannot change the quality of your silage but an understanding of its quality can help you feed your animals for a desired outcome. Silage can typically be 60 – 100% of a cow’s diet, therefore it is very important to know the feed value of the silage you are feeding. Analysing silage samples helps determine the nutritional composition, including protein, fibre, energy content, and mineral levels. This information is crucial for formulating balanced diets for livestock, ensuring they receive adequate nutrition for growth, reproduction, and overall health.

Taking a silage test
When taking a silage test, you can sample from a freshly opened bale or take a sample from a core deep into the pit. However, for more accurate analysis as you move through the pit a sample can be taken from the face of the pit at feeding. Repeated sampling as you go back through the pit helps identify variations in nutritional composition and fermentation parameters, allowing adjustments in management practices or feed formulations as you move through the pit.

Typical Ideal Silage – Summary Table

Applying the results:
It is important to take the time to understand the values and how this may affect diet formulations, dry matter intakes and animal performance.

DMD vs Concentrate feeding level for differing stock over the winter

It is very important to interpret the forage results correctly. For example, target pH is directly governed by the level of dry matter in the silage. If the DM of the silage is very high, we can achieve a stable fermentation at relatively higher pH levels. Energy density is calculated from the DMD%. This dictates to a large extent the level of supplementation that will be required.

At Dairygold, we provide a comprehensive and competitive silage sampling service. If you require more information on this service or would like to book, please contact Conor in Inside Sales on 022 – 31644 or contact your local ASM.

CONOR O’CALLAGHAN, BBS, Inside Sales