ENSILAGE MAKING

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21206, 31 August 1940, Page 19 (Supplement)

ENSILAGE MAKING

SHUTTING UP OF FIELDS HEAVIER CROP PROMISED The recent very favourable conditions should ensure a considerably earlier pasture growth in the Waikato than was the case last year when the spring was an unusually backward one. A general appeal has been made to the dairy farming community to make more ensilage as part of the national drive to increase production. It is recognised that ensilage making is not only the best method there is of conserving surplus grass but that, furthermore, it is an excellent method of controlling growth in a favourable season. Growth promises to be particularly early this year and farmers who have not already closed up fields for ensilage should do so in the near future. Farmers have their own ideas about the making of ensilage, whether it is better made in a pit, stack or tower, but the principal thing is to ensure the correct fermentation of the material. Lactic acid fermentation is desirable as it produces a nutritious, sweet-smelling silage. The production of lactic acid in the fermentation process is encouraged by the addition of sugar in the form of molasses to the material. The molasses can be diluted with water at the rate of one part of molasses to three parts of water, being then sprayed over the grass during filling. Use Of Whey Whey has been much in the news in the Waikato recently because of the swing-over from butter to cheese manufacture. The position is that

there will be more whey available in the Waikato than ever before. Whey cannot only be used as a valuable feeding material for pigs but it also has other uses. Among these is its value as a means of adding sugar to the ensilage. The fact can be appreciated that because molasses has a sugar content of 60 per cent whereas whey has only a sugar content of 4 per cent that considerably more whey would have to be used for ensilage than would be the case with molasses. A well-known Waikato farmer who has had conspicuous success with the adding of whey to ensilage is Dr. H. E. Annett, of Matangi, who has now used whey in his ensilage making for many years. Only a rough guide can be provided for the amount of whey to add to the ensilage. It is not likely that too much will be added, but the farmer should take care that the material is not made too wet. Dr. Annett points out that if one to two drums of whey are added to every 10 tons of material there is only an approximate moisture content of 2 per cent. At least four gallons should be sprinkled over every load of material. Two to three gallons a ton of material should serve as some indication, but if a kerosene tin of whey is sprinkled over every sweep load it should be sufficient. Two 40-gallon drums can be placed in a handy position near the scene of operations.