Silage

[MULDOON]

Could we discuss the Pros And cons of silage.

How it is made , how you test it to see if it's good.
Thanks
Bill :cboy:

 

[MULDOON]

Is there a recipe for Silage, Can you buy it Comercialy??

 

[certherfbeef]

Are you talking about corn silage or haylage?

 

[MULDOON]

What's the difference?

 

[certherfbeef]

What's the difference?

Corn silage is chopped out of the field and then either blown into a silo or into a bag. Haylage is either chopped out of the field and ensiled like the corn or baled wet and wrapped in plastic like the corn silage bags. We prefer to round bale the hay and wrap each bale seperate. Our corn goes into an old upright stave silo.

 

[MULDOON]

Hay silage , Around here they pile it up , put white plastic on it .
Then they put old tires on top of it.
When the silage swells up. it is suppose to be ready,

Know how do you feed it to the cows , arn't you worried about it being toxic , fermented, Unsafe??

 

[certherfbeef]

y,

Know how do you feed it to the cows , arn't you worried about it being toxic , fermented, Unsafe??

Muldoon, I grew up on a dairy farm, silage is like candy to the cows.

 

[TheBullLady]

We fed corn silage, hay silage and sweet corn silage to our cows when we lived in Illinois, as it was an inexpensive alternative to other feed. The cows love that stuff, and we never had a problem with feeding it. The sweet corn silage we fed free choice almost all winter.

 

[kjerckie]

Has anyone heard of Chaffe Hay? Alfalfa lightly sprayed with molassas then bagged in 50 pound bags and let cure. Says life is two years and can be stacked outside (out of the direct weather) Closest to me is sold in Oregon. Raves about feeding to goats. But don't know anyone feeding to cattle. Per bag is about $8.00 or $9.00 I think they said. I've pondered this. Thanks.

 

[Dee]

We put up corn silage, in piles, pack it with a tractor and tarp it. If it is well tarped, and sprayed with sila guard it will keep along time. Once opened, the air damages the opened area. I am feeding it to my replacement heifers now at 81% of their ration, mixed with hay/alfalfa, and 2# corn. I can't find a feed analysis at the moment, but it is 67% moisture, and 9.8% protein, smells sweet, and they love it.

 

[nrs farm]

We feed corn silage from an old upright stave silo during the fall & winter months basically (about Sept - March). Around here it is a lot cheaper than hay. You do have to limit feed it though or the cows will get fat. We calve in Feb and March for the most part. I feed silage and straw until Dec-Jan then start feeding hay with the corn silage. By the middle to end of March the cows are on all hay.

As to spoilage...we feed a layer off the top of the silo every day. Once it is exposed to the air it will spoil if not fed within a day or two. However, if you keep it airtight it can actually last for years (I've read) in the silo. If you want a good source of articles on corn silage (from making to feeding) try this link:

http://www.uwex.edu/ces/crops/uwforage/Silage.htm

It's a dairy site but still a lot of good information on corn silage.

 

[Ryder]

Is there a recipe for Silage, Can you buy it Comercialy??

Some dairy farmer friends were buying silage a couple of years ago.
I would think the availability would depend on your location, how good a crop year, etc.

 

[J Baxter]

Does the stalk have to be cut green or can it be made with post harvest stalks? Anybody use milo stalks?

JB

 

[Chuck]

Does the stalk have to be cut green or can it be made with post harvest stalks? Anybody use milo stalks?

JB

Its chopped standing ,earlier than combining ,at higher moisture. Not nearly the feed value in stalks as in silage. Round baling stalks behind the combine makes good bedding,bean stubble works good too.

 

[certherfbeef]

There is seed corn espically for silage corn. Short day stuff.

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

J Baxter --- For quite some time I've also been interested in the possibility of making silage from milo but, being an absentee owner that goes to my place only twice a week in winter, it seemed more like an exercise in intellectual curiosity at best. But I've always thought it would be interesting to try to put some silage up, not out of old growth milo but rather the real green and leafy re-growth. You've probably seen where farmers shred down the stalks after harvesting the grain, get a big rain or two, and before you know it they have beautifully lush regrowth. Seems a shame to waste it (in situations where they don't graze the re-growth). I'm curious if anybody in the midwest that happens to grow milo also later on trys to get a silage cut, or if they strictly do it with corn. If you find any meaningful information on this topic please be sure to post it.

 

[nrs farm]

J Baxter --- For quite some time I've also been interested in the possibility of making silage from milo but, being an absentee owner that goes to my place only twice a week in winter, it seemed more like an exercise in intellectual curiosity at best. But I've always thought it would be interesting to try to put some silage up, not out of old growth milo but rather the real green and leafy re-growth. You've probably seen where farmers shred down the stalks after harvesting the grain, get a big rain or two, and before you know it they have beautifully lush regrowth. Seems a shame to waste it (in situations where they don't graze the re-growth). I'm curious if anybody in the midwest that happens to grow milo also later on trys to get a silage cut, or if they strictly do it with corn. If you find any meaningful information on this topic please be sure to post it.

Here's a starter link. The milo part is at the bottom but the whole article is interesting reading about corn silage as well.

http://muextension.missouri.edu/xplor/a ... g02061.htm

Here's another link that explains a variety of forages as well as corn and Milo for silage use:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_AA250