Friday, 19 October 2018 10:55

The art of making silage

Written by 
Silage contractors at work on a Taranaki farm last week: Photo: Matthew Herbert. Silage contractors at work on a Taranaki farm last week: Photo: Matthew Herbert.

Making silage is a balance: when a paddock is closed, yield increases but quality declines.

For quality silage, make light crops and cut early.

Quality may not be important for feeding stock on a maintenance diet. But for supplementing milking cows, or for growing young stock, quality is essential.

Lighter crops, harvested earlier, produce better silage. For best ME, cut pastures before they reach a yield of 4t DM/ha (i.e. harvest about 1.5-2.5 t DM/ha). 

Paddocks cut earlier also regrow much faster and are available for grazing earlier than those that are not.
Using later-heading ryegrasses can help silage ME because these better maintain pasture quality in late spring. 

Cut paddocks in the afternoon when the WSC percentage is greatest in the plant.

Leafy spring pasture has an ME of 12 or more. As soon as the yield exceeds 3500kg DM/ha, quality decreases.
Pastures that are not cut before 4t DM/ha can lose 1 ME unit every two to three weeks as stems, seed heads and dead matter increase.

Silage quality has a direct effect on dairy cow milk production as shown in the graph opposite. Quality also dramatically effects LWG in young stock.

Survey work has shown New Zealand farmers are generally good at what happens after cutting (stacking, compacting, covering etc.). The biggest reason for poor silage is making it from poor quality pasture cut too late.
Another reason is weather. If made in good conditions, pasture typically loses 0.5 ME unit through ensiling. Rain can increase this loss.

Nitrogen fertiliser

Applying nitrogen fertiliser after the paddock has been taken out of the grazing rotation for silage production can help increase growth rates, so the paddock is available for grazing again sooner.

Fertiliser application after cutting is also recommended, as large amounts of nitrogen and potassium, in particular, are removed in the silage.

• Article sourced from www.agriseeds.co.nz

More like this

Feed help supplements Canterbury farmers meet protein goals

Two high producing Canterbury dairy farmers are moving to blended stockfeed supplements fed in-shed for a number of reasons, not the least of which is to boost protein levels, which they can’t achieve through pasture under the region’s nitrogen limit of 190kg/ha.

Featured

Australia develops first local mRNA FMD vaccine

Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.

NZ household food waste falls again

Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.

Editorial: No joking matter

OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.

DairyNZ plantain trials cut nitrate leaching by 26%

DairyNZ says its plantain programme continues to deliver promising results, with new data confirming that modest levels of plantain in pastures reduce nitrogen leaching, offering farmers a practical, science-backed tool to meet environmental goals.

National

All eyes on NZ milk supply

All eyes are on milk production in New Zealand and its impact on global dairy prices in the coming months.

Machinery & Products

Leader balers arrive in NZ

Officially launched at the National Fieldays event in June, the Leader in-line conventional PRO 1900 balers are imported and distributed…

JDLink Boost for NZ farms

Connectivity is widely recognised as one of the biggest challenges facing farmers, but it is now being overcome through the…

New generation Defender HD11

The all-new 2026 Can-Am Defender HD11 looks likely to raise the bar in the highly competitive side-by-side category.

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Full cabinet

OPINION: Legislation being drafted to bring back the controversial trade of live animal exports by sea is getting stuck in the…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter