Minimising Feed Losses By Storing May And Silage

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 3, 4 October 1948, Page 3

Minimising Feed Losses By Storing May And Silage

In the normal course of springtime events on the dairy farm, the stock cannot keep the pasture under control from mid-September onwards. Under rotational grazing systems, if an attempt is made to keep the paddocks in good order, the paddocks last in the rotation will be well advanced in growth by the time their turn comes to be grazed. An attempt to graze these pastures adequately will result in the other fields getting progressively beyond their best grazing stage. Where such conditions obtain, it is necessary to reduce the grazing area to that which completely controlled, and allow the remainder to de 6 velop to the stage when it is about to break into flower, at which stage’ it is cut for silage or hay. Under extensive grazing systems, the animals are able to select their own grazing areas once the pasture produces more than the total needs of the stock. The paddocks thereupon become clumsy, and much valuable feed is wasted by the patches being allowed to develop to the relatively valueless seed-head stage. Again, the areas to be grazed must be reduced, and the remainder allowed to develop evenly to the haying stage. In this way the surplus pasture production may be converted into silage or hay, for subsequent utilisation in periods of pasture scarcity. This system entails no loss of grazing area during the ensuing dry summer months; and, provided harvesting has been sufficiently early, the aftermath will produce, much valuable feed.

Losses of up to even 50 per cent of the digestible nutrients in the grass cut can be expected, whether it is made into silage or dried out as hay. This loss, combined with the comparatively low yields of dry matter (about 4,0001b./acre), and the frequency with which poorquality material results from the hay or ensilage processes, does not make it a very economical means of conserving surplus feed. However, the surplus growth in the spring flush cannot be carried over to the summer slump, as feed in the paddock, without a serious reduction in quality. With the seed-head developing, extensive changes take place in the plant, with q consequent lowering of food value. This reduction is so marked that the dry matter required to satisfy appetite no longer contains nutrients sufficient to meet the requirements of the milking animal. Though, wastage in ensiling and haymaking cannot be eliminated, any practice which entails 50 per cent losses of nutrients should be viewed with concern. At* present, in this country, wasteful methods of conservation are fairly common, because many farmers do not yet appreciate the value of winter feeding, and economic pressure has not yet been sufficiently strong to force farmers into adopting more thrifty methods. Improvements may be expected when more attention is paid to the stage at which the pastures are cut, the treatment during the drying and collecting in the paddock, and the methods of conservation. The use of acids and soluble carbohydrates in silage-making, pits, pickup bales and Dutch barns are all progressive moves, but much more can still be done.