ottersbro
Active member
does anyone here feed silage?
also is there any advantages to feeding silage versus any other types of feed?
also is there any advantages to feeding silage versus any other types of feed?
silage
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jerry27150
Well-known member
used to always feed corn silage, you can keep a lot more cattle on the same land base
We put up a lot of baleage. The only advantage I can see is we're not as much a slave to good weather as if we put up hay. Baleing and wrapping at a higher moisture content is required with baleage. The down side is that our beef cows won;t tough the stuff but the Holsteins love it.
With traditional sileage the extra equipment and storage is a serious drawback. And it stinks awfull especially after it';s been through the cow. But I'm speaking as a beef producer and with stockpiled forage we don;t have a real big need for hay/sileage/baleage.
dun
With traditional sileage the extra equipment and storage is a serious drawback. And it stinks awfull especially after it';s been through the cow. But I'm speaking as a beef producer and with stockpiled forage we don;t have a real big need for hay/sileage/baleage.
dun
I started feeding corn silage a couple years ago, one of the best things I've done.
Cows love it and stay it great condition. It is also cheap and you get an incredable amount of feed per acre. There are corn varieties you can plant that are specifically for silage also that have bigger stalks. We also plant our silage corn thicker.
But there are negatives also. As Dun mentioned storage, I have done both piles and bags. There is a lot more waste with a pile, and I don't think it would store to well over summer. Also a pile takes more time as you need to keep packing it as you go. Bags work great, but they are pretty expensive if you have to rent the machine to fill them. But filling bags is pretty fast and you will have less labor filling them.
Also, when I fed just hay I could haul out enough to last them 3 days. Now I have to start the trator everyday in the winter. Although if you have enough feeder wagons you could probably get by feeding every other day I would guess. And it takes a bit longer to go get the feeder wagon, fill it, and pull it back out to the cows, but it's not too bad. Being across the border in Wisonsin I am guessing there are a few dairy producers that put up silage in your area, that maybe you could share labor with and have them put some up for you if you don't have a chopper and wagons.
I estimate that it takes around 1/3 acre per cow to feed thru most of the winter.
Cows love it and stay it great condition. It is also cheap and you get an incredable amount of feed per acre. There are corn varieties you can plant that are specifically for silage also that have bigger stalks. We also plant our silage corn thicker.
But there are negatives also. As Dun mentioned storage, I have done both piles and bags. There is a lot more waste with a pile, and I don't think it would store to well over summer. Also a pile takes more time as you need to keep packing it as you go. Bags work great, but they are pretty expensive if you have to rent the machine to fill them. But filling bags is pretty fast and you will have less labor filling them.
Also, when I fed just hay I could haul out enough to last them 3 days. Now I have to start the trator everyday in the winter. Although if you have enough feeder wagons you could probably get by feeding every other day I would guess. And it takes a bit longer to go get the feeder wagon, fill it, and pull it back out to the cows, but it's not too bad. Being across the border in Wisonsin I am guessing there are a few dairy producers that put up silage in your area, that maybe you could share labor with and have them put some up for you if you don't have a chopper and wagons.
I estimate that it takes around 1/3 acre per cow to feed thru most of the winter.
