Silage Advisory Centre

“Since the establishment of bale wrapping technologies for the production of baled silage some 25 years ago, much scientific research has been conducted to identify the best practices to produce high quality baled silage,” explains David Craig, Managing Director of the Silage Advisory Centre.

“The results of the survey will provide us with practical, on-farm data to move forward in best practice recommendations to farmers where improvements can be made, ultimately SilACs aim.” continues David.

About the Survey

Researchers will visit 80 farms during January and February 2012. The farms visited will be a cross section of all farm types and enterprises in the UK with one thing in common; all farms will have the majority of their silage produced in large round bales.

“On each farm, three bales next in line for feeding will be assessed”, explains Rhun Fychan, research scientist at IBERS. “Any physical damage to the film wrap will be noted and the bales will be ‘pressure tested’ to see how well sealed they are. On opening the three bales, surface mould cover will be assessed before cores of the bales are taken for chemical analysis.”

Farmers will also be requested to complete a questionnaire detailing the history of the silage bales evaluated, with questions ranging from the age of the pasture, fertiliser applied, to the number of film layers applied and type of storage site.

“The data gained will assist in building up a picture of how different baled silage production systems result in silages with different nutritional quality and how the various factors affect silage losses due to moulds and other such factors,” says Rhun.

Farmers’ Returns

On completion of the study, each farmer will receive a report detailing the results of their baled silage analysis and overall findings of the research, in particular, those management practices that improve overall silage quality. All data will be treated confidentially and at no time will individual farm results be discussed with third parties.