Seven steps for a quality late first cut silage

Author: 
Silage Advisory Centre

On many farms first cut silage is made mid-late June or sometimes even early July, and experts at the Silage Advisory Centre believe there is no reason why such a late first cut should not be of equally high quality in terms of energy, protein and fermentation as many of those silages produced on farms in the first weeks of May.

“Those producing these later first cut silages all know the value of that first spring growth as a grazed crop be it for sheep, beef or dairy,” says Dave Davies of the Silage Advisory Centre. “Winter forage is therefore conserved once grass growth gets ahead of grazing requirements.” 

“For some farmers it makes sense to ensile only when grass growth gets ahead of grazing requirements and as long as they abide by some simple rules they’ll still achieve quality forage.”

Dr Davies’ seven steps to later cut silage are:

  1. Stagger field closuresone by one as grass growth gets ahead of stock. This enables maximum grazed grass utilization and the resulting staggered harvests will spread the risk of bad weather.
  2. Use baled silageas it means small areas can be harvested and silage quality can be adapted to stock requirements, for example to cater for both late pregnant ewes (needing high quality) and dry suckler cows (which need stemmy and mature gut fill silage).
  3. Apply fertilizerimmediately after grazing and before the gate is shut, with quantity and formulation based on soil analysis and forage requirements. Also, leave at least one day between application and harvest for every two units/acre of nitrogen applied.
  4. Harvest at the right time, cutting at around six weeks of re-growth for an ME of 11.5 silage or eight weeks of re-growth for an ME of 10.5 if quality is not as important as quantity. Monitor the crop regularly to assess stem elongation and seed head formation, and cut when it’s dry, once any dew has risen.  Ideal cutting conditions are in the sun in the afternoon or early evening.
  5. Cut at a height of between five and 10cm. If ground conditions are good then cut low, if not, cut higher. Cutting too low will increase the risks of soil contamination and increase the time the crop takes to recover and re-grow, so reducing annual forage yield.
  6. Wilt quickly and accurately by spreading the crop over as wide an area as possible immediately after cutting and having a target dry matter: for clamps this should be between 28-32%, although for bales the target can be much wider.  Wilt until the target dry matter is reached, or for grasses aim for a maximum of 30 hours, two days for legumes: excessive wilting will increase field dry matter losses and reduces the nutrient content of the forage.
  7. Bale effectively by using a chopper baler to improve density, reduce oxygen content and speed up fermentation; this also reduces wrapping and carting costs.  Bales should be moved to the stacking site prior to wrapping with six layers of good quality wrap and stored on a well maintained site where they should be netted to control bird and vermin damage.

More expert advice and practical fact sheets on how to effectively produce good quality silage can be found at www.silageadvice.com.

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About the Silage Advisory Centre

The Silage Advisory Centre promotes the science of silage to aid farmers’ decision-making on bale silage production, forage and grassland management. Its mission is to aid UK and Irish livestock farmers produce quality and nutritional silage at a reasonable profit through research, seminars, knowledge transfer and advisory tools. For more information, please visit www.silageadvice.com

 

For more editorial information, please contact:

Sergio Di Gesù  ︳phone: +32 (0) 2 413 06 57  ︳sergio@silageadvice.com

Lauren Burge    ︳phone: +32 (0) 2 235 01 83  ︳lauren@silageadvice.com

 

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