Feeding silage in Ecuador

[EcuadorCalves]

To minimize grazing land and improve eating habits of calves, I have been establishing a new project here in Ecuador feeding silage to calves from 4 to 8 months. The silage consists of maralfalfa, King Grass and some minerals. I save these in pits lined and covered with plastic for fermentation. I have 8 silos, 7 which are full, and the oldest one has been keeping for about 2 years. A week ago I bought 20 calves to start. I have 3 concrete questions: 1) After I open the silo, in how much time does the silage need to be consumed? 2) When the silage is in their barrel to eat, how long is it good for? (especially if they are still adapting, they don't eat as much initially), and 3) Is it recommended to dry the silage after taken out of the silo, before putting in their barrel to eat? I appreciate any comments, feedback or references. Thank you.

 

[regolith]

I'm not familiar with the specific types of grass in your silage, but to be brief:
1) the important part is to keep the face fresh. I'm presuming you only uncover the vertical face then roll the cover back further as you need to. Try to feed out across the face within a few days, so no silage is exposed for longer than that. If you had to re-seal the stack later, it should keep fine, only the previously exposed silage would rot.
2) I'd suggest no more than two days, preferably renewed daily.
3) No, I wouldn't dry it.

What else are the calves eating while they're adapting to the silage?

 

[EcuadorCalves]

Thanks for the response, very helpful.
The two types of grass is mixed with minerals before saved in the silos. When it is taken out to be fed to the calves, it is mixed with vitamins and cane sugar. They are not eating anything else besides this mixture of silage. Are there any tricks to improving the bacterial environment in the silo or quality of silage for proper fermentation? What are natural methods of increasing protein intake? The advice is very much appreciated.

 

[regolith]

There are tricks, but it's not my expertise and I'm farming ryegrass/clover.

My question regarding other foods was more a concern that the calves are given time to adjust to a diet of all silage. I have seen calves taken off grazing and given silage lose weight quickly because the person making that decison hadn't understood that the transition should be gradual.

I suspect your best way for increasing protein & good fermentaion in the silage is to cut relatively immature grass - before significant seedhead formation - and don't turn the crop any more than once, if at all, while it is drying in the paddock. I don't like to see silage dried any more than it needs to be to avoid effluent production, which is about 35 - 40% dry matter. There are bacterial innoculants that can be added to the stack and I've heard also that sugars are effective at getting the right bacteria working. I've never used either, relying on the stage of growth and short drying time to maximise/retain the sugars present in the grass.
The presence of a legume - is maralfalfa what is called lucerne/alfalfa? - should increase the protein level over a silage made of grass alone.