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—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 5, 1972
Farmers produced 23 million
tons of grass silage in 1970, up
from 8.2 million tons just 10 years
before. And now, with dairy and
beef herds becoming in
creasingly larger, there’s an
more and more interest in grass
silage.
New silage additives of great
interest to researchers loom on
the horizon. Questions as to
moisture limits and length of cut
are being explored. And large'-
scale farmers are examining
silage closely as they weigh labor
versus mechanization costs in the
harvesting, storing and feeding of
forage crops.
Forage researchers forecast a
bright future for silage. Clarence
Hanson, USDA director of alfalfa
investigations, thinks low
moisture ensiling and feeding
may double by 1980. He predicts
increases particularly m the
Cornbelt, Lake and Northeastern
states. One of the nation’s elder
statesmen of animal nutrition,
University of Georgia’s M E.
McCullough, believes total put-up
and fed silage of all kinds may
double in the next 10 to 15 years.
North American beef and dairy
herds are increasing in size and
the popularity of stored feeds is
on the upswing, according to
McCullough As a result, silage
fed to animals particularly
dairy is increasing and will
continue to rise. Moisture, Mc-
Cullough believes, is the key
word in the future of silage. He
suspects, however, that right now
farmers are concerned with too
little of it as opposed to too much.
Over-curing with too little
moisture is often responsible for
hot, moldy and low quality silage.
There is danger, too, with
excess moisture which causes
seepage. McCullough simply
feels the concept of drier silage
has been oversold.
Dr. John Baylor, Penn State
agronomist, suggests a general
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s August 31, 1972 /
e en
HOMELITE
Researchers Predict Bright Future for Grass Silage
aim now for low-moisture silage
should be about 55-t065 per cent
moisture rather than 50 per cent,
the previously thought optimum
level. There are inherent
problems in heating at 50 per
cent, even in tight storage, he
adds. Dr. Baylor also feels silage
making may have gone a little too,
far on fine-chop. Too fine a chop
can go through a cow’s digestive
system too fast and lower her
butterfat production, he explains.
Moisture will become more and ■
more critical as farmers move
into systems where they’re using
the silo for something more than
just preserving the material. If
enzymes are added in some form
for altering the fermentation; if
the silage is supplemented with
non-protein nitrogen; or if other
elements are added as a means of
developing an all-in-one type
silage.
Research results definitely
support the continued use of low
moisture silage, wilted to 35-to-40
per cent dry matter where this
can be done successfully. But
USDA researchers, D. R. Waldo
and J. C. Derbyshire, warn that
heat damage results all too
frequently.
A Minnesota survey of low
moisture silage showed heat
damage occured in 27 per cent of
the cases studied. Much research
activity is taking place in the
field of new silage additivies.
Waldo notes that studies here and
abroad have shown promise with
formic acid, propionic acid and a
combination of formaldehyde
and formic acid.
The use of formic acid for
ensiling increased tenfold in
Norway between 1956 and 1958
and English farmers, though
starting later than their Nor
wegian counterparts, are cat
ching up and using about half as
great a tonnage each year as
Norway.
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Researchers and farmers who
are taking a long look into the
future at all kinds of silage
foresee a need not just for more
mechanization, but for better
mechanization as well. New
Holland Division of Sperry Rand
forage harvester specialist,
Lester E. Ober, emphasizes
quality and capacity as being the
two most important factors with
regard to mechanization. Ober
feels any silage chopper or
harvesting machine should have
the ability to provide a uniform
cut, and also give the farmer the
option of cutting with or without a
screen.
C. R. Hoglund, Michigan State
University’s veteran farm
management specialist and
economist, predicts the trend
toward larger and more highly
mechanized beef feedlots and
dairy operations will boost total
use of silage and increase the
amount fed daily per animal. As
dairy herds increase above the 40
cow size, it is generally more
profitable to substitute harvested
forage for grazing, he explains.
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Increased numbers of cattle fed
on feedlots will likely increase
the total silage fed.
Hoglund notes storage and
handling costs are reduced when
more than 500 tons of silage are
harvested annually, reflecting
the need for high capacity
machinery. Labor time in feeding
forage can be reduced by feeding
a combination of corn silage and
haylage, he adds. Dr. Samuel
Guss, Penn State veterinarian,
agress that such a combination of
feeds helps provide adequate
protein and energy and also
maintains the right calcium
phosphorous ratio.
On the mineral-balance side of
forage feeding. Dr. Guss feels the
total mineral intake from both
forage and gram supplement
should contain not more than
twice as much calcium as
phosphorus. Quality hay or
haylage is likely to contain four to
six times as much calcium as
phosphorus. In contrast, corn
silage is higher in phosphorus
than calcium.
In a recently completed survey
SA
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3 1/2 H.P. Engine
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Finger-Tip Cutting
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Staggered Wheel «
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LAWN-BOY
ELM, PA.
of nearly 1,000 Michigan dairy
farms, Hoglund and his fellow
researchers found herds most
likely to expand in numbers were
those with 50 cows or more.
Future plans of these dairymen
include new free-stall housing,
increased silage storage
capacity, and purchase of larger
choppers, and self-propelled
windrowers.
In view of these developments,
silo manufacturers, machinery
companies and all others
associated with dairy and cattle
feeding are prepared for a future
emphasizing silage. To date,
many farmers are not equipped
properly to handle the silage
demands of larger herds;
whether a farmer is making 100
tons or 2,000 tons, curing time
takes about the same number of
days. Silage-associated
manufacturers are geared up and
ready to provide the equipment
with the capacity required to
harvest and store the feeds
required to maintain and
promote our nation’s livestock
economy.
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V provides Msitr
handling.
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