Silage is one way to preserve harvested forage for use throughout the rest of the year. The underlying principle of making ...

Opening the silage pit It takes about 30 to 40 days for the silage to mature and be ready for feeding. Never open the whole silage pit at once. Only one end of the narrow side should be opened a bit.

It takes about 30 to 40 days for the silage to mature and be ready for feeding. Never open the whole silage pit at once. Only one end of the narrow side should be opened a bit.

5. Use cling film sheets All farmers should use cling film on top of their silage. It is hugely beneficial because it folds to the contours of the pit and clings down very quickly.

Silage is expensive to produce, never mind wasting it due to poor pit management. With that in mind, independent ruminant nutritionist Brian Reidy gives his tips on how to make the most of what ...

The top of the silage should come no higher than 50cm below the top of the pit walls. “The rule of thumb is that 1m [depth] of beet releases 1m of effluent into the silage,” he says.

Maize silage, just like grass silage must be ensiled by packing manageable layers of material at a time. Ideally a few inches at a time should be consolidated by packing well with plenty of weight.

The ideal dry matter of pasture for pit silage is 30 per cent, any lower and effluent may be a problem and any higher compaction may be difficult. The dry matter percentage of bale silage should ...

Going hand in hand with a suitable feed ration is the silage analysis, aiming to reach 11 – 11.5% metabolisable energy (ME), 35% dry matter, and 15-16% protein. An additive from Britmilk is used to ...

MOST farmers would agree there is a lot of luck involved in producing superior quality silage, especially when you live in the wetter climes of South-west Scotland. However, with early planning and ...