Dairy
TTI Pipeline
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C Glenn A. Shirk
1" Extension
Dairy
Agent
It's hard to make milk with poor
quality forages. If in doubt, look
how well cows milked in the
1990-91 feeding season, compared
to the 1989-90 season. The big dif
ference was the superior quality of
forage produced in 1990; it
improved production by as much
as 10 lbs. of milk per cow per day.
Good quality forage is essential
for efficient milk production and
good herd health. Because it is
higher in digestible fiber, it
improves dry matter intake and
milk production. The rumen func
tions properly and fat tests are
more normal. Cows stay in better
flesh and breed back sooner. The
digestibility of the entire ration is
improved, enabling cows to make
better use of the feeds they con
sume, and helping to reduce feed
costs per cwt of milk produced.
What you do at harvest time has
a tremendous impact on forage
quality and herd profits for the next
year. Once the forage is in storage
you are stuck with whatever qual
ity you put up for a long period of
lime, unless you remove the forage
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and replace it with something else.
Our challenge is to grow,
harvest, preserve and feed the kind
and quality of forage cows need.
Select the kind of crops you need
for your feeding program, and then
select the crop varieties' and
hybrids that have good fiber
digestibility.
As you harvest forage crops,
keep in mind, the nutrients that are
most digestible and the most solu
ble are the nutrients that are of
greatest value to cows. They are
also the nutrients most apt to be lost
at harvest time as a result of plant
cell respiration, leaching that is
caused by exposure to the weather,
leaf shatter, and the heat of fermen
tation. Once these nutrients are lost
at harvest time and in storage, they
are no longer available to cows.
The First Cutting Challenge
One of the most important fac
tors affecting forage quality is
stage of maturity at time of cutting.
For alfalfa, aim for the bud to early
bloom stage. However, the best
guideline for harvesting first cut
tings might be to harvest them as
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soon as you get the first good break
in weather. Many years, that might
be the only good break in weather
you'll get in May. Study long range
weather forecasts carefully and be
ready to cut as soon as the weather
breaks - not a day or two after.
This might dictate a temporary
delay in com planting, but once the
first cutting is made you can
resume com planting with the
satisfaction of knowing that your
second cutting is growing as you
plant and that you've probably set
the stage for harvesting an extra
cutting for the season.
Respiration Losses
Plant cell respiration continues
from the time the plant is cut until it
drys down to about 40% moisture.
The longer it takes for the crop to
dry down to this level, the greater
the loss of feed nutrients.
For quickest dry down, cut early
in the morning in order to take full
advantage of daylight drying hours
soon after cutting. Condition the
hay, either mechanically or chemi
cally, and let it dry in the swath or
in a light, fluffy windrow.
Leaching Losses
Soluble nutrients are leached out
when hay is exposed to the weath
er. Quick dry down, as discussed
earlier, plus harvesting at higher
levels of moisture gels the crop off
the field sooner. This can be
accomplished by harvesting the
crop at about 45-60% moisture as
haylage, or by using a hay preser
vative to permit baling hay at
22-30% moisture.
Leaf Shatter
Most of the digestible nutrients
of plants are found in the leaves.
Leaf shatter increases when hay is
raked and baled at moisture levels
less than about 22%. To reduce
these losses, let hay wilt down in
the swath to about 30-50% mois-
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ture. Then rake the hay into light,
fluffy windrows and let it finish
drying in the windrow. Bale at
about 22% moisture. With the
proper use of preservatives, hay
can be baled up to about 30% mois
ture. If the hay gets too dry, delay
baling until the evening hours
when it picks up some additional
moisture.
Hehting
Valuable energy and dry matter
are consumed when hay heats in
the mow, or when haylage under
goes fermentation. When tempera
tures become excessive, some of
the protein gets bound to the fiber
and becomes unavailable to the
cow. There is also risk of sponta
neous combustion and the forma
tion of toxic molds and mycoto
xins. These losses can be reduced
by baling at lower moisture levels,
which increases leaf shatter, or by
the proper use of hay preservatives
and silage additives.
Fermentation Problems
Having to feed out a silo full of
badly femmented, poor quality for
age can be a very costly experience
from the standpoint of poor milk
production, DA's, poor conception,
foot problems and high cow
turnover, etc. It's a nightmare that
no dairyman wants to experience.
One solution is to haul the bad sil
age to the field and replace it with
better quality feed, which is also
expensive. Another better alterna
tive is to prevent the problem from
happening by using proper ensiling
techniques, and then supporting
these efforts with the proper use of
a good silage additive.
Proper ensiling techniques for
haylage include: ensiling the crop
at the right moisture level (about
45-60%), chopping at the proper
length (about 3/8- 1/2 in.), storing
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 11, 1991-A35
it in an air-tight structure, Ailing
the structure rapidly, distributing it
well for even packing, and then
protecting it from oxygen
infiltration.
Legumes are not the easiest crop
to ensile. Compared to com, which
is an easy crop to ensile, legumes
are higher in protein and lower in
energy and contain less lactobacil
lus bacteria. For silage and haylage
to be preserved well, lactobacillus
bacteria need to be present and they
need energy (soluble carbohy
drates) to feed upon in order to pro
duce the lactic acid that is needed
to drop the pH to about 4.5 to
"pickle" the silage.
The higher protein content of
legumes acts as a buffer, making it
more difficult for the pH to drop to
the desired levels. Legumes arc
also somewhat lower in energy to
begin with. The loss of soluble car
bohydrates in the field, due to
respiration and leaching, means
there is even less soluble carbohy
drates available to support the fer
mentation process. This can lead to
inadequate fcmmentation, poor
preservation, and poor quality
haylage.
The proper use of a silage addi
tive, one that contains a lactobacil
lus culture plus enzymes, can help
ensure a good fermentation. Fol
low instructions closely. In addi
tion to supplying sufficient num
bers of the right kind of bacteria,
the enzymes in the additive can
help break down the less digestible
fiber in the plant, thereby releasing
additional energy for the fermenta
tion process. As the enzymes break
down the fiber, they also lend to
improve the digestibility of the
forage.
Storing Feeds for Greater Acces
sibility
Being able to access whatever
feeds you want, when you want
them, is of great benefit when you
are trying to do a good job of feed
ing cows. Thus, it is beneficial to
store feeds of similar kind and
quality together, in the same silo if
possible. Feeds of questionable
quality should be stored separately,
perhaps in a bag or stack, so they
can be used to best advantage, with
minimal adverse affect on the herd.
When building new feed storage
facilities, it might be more advan
tageous to build two smaller units
rather than one larger unit in order
to have more flexibility in manag
ing feed inventories.
Feeding cows properly can be a
challenge. Good quality forages
make the job much easier. Within
our grasp are many opportunities
for doing a good job of putting up
good quality forages that can be
used in our dairy rations. Our chal
lenge is to recognize these oppor
tunities and to take full advantage
of them when they arrive, and
harvest time is a good time to start
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FRANK A.
FILLIPPO, INC.
- WANTED -
DISABLED & CRIPPLED
COWS, BULLS & STEERS
Competitive Prices Paid
Slaughtered under
government inspection
Call: Frank Fillippo -
Residence - 215-666-0725
Elam Cinder - 717-367-3824
C.L. King - 717-786-7229