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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • OCTOBER 2019
Density key to efficient, healthy silage storage Oxygen is the enemy of high-quality silage
by JACKIE PEARASE
ENDERBY—A few simple rules can provide farmers with healthier, more efficient silage. North Okanagan dairy
producers received the tips during a presentation at Top View Dairy Ltd. in Enderby during the 2019 North Okanagan Dairy Tour the Kamloops Okanagan Dairymen’s Association hosted on August 13. Dairy forage specialist
Gerry DeGroot from Dairy- Crop Solutions in Chilliwack says farmers need to slow down and concentrate on improving the density of their silage bunkers.
The higher the density, the
more oxygen gets pushed out of the bunker. “Remember, silage and
oxygen are enemies so whatever you can do to eliminate oxygen being present at your silo is a factor,” he explains. DeGroot says packing
silage for three to five hours at a time is the wrong thing to do.
“You can only pack 14 to 16
inches. What you’re trying to do is fill your silos in at the four to six-inch layer and just keep the tractor moving,” he explains. “There’s a rule of 800, and the ‘800’ basically means if you’re bringing silage in at 100 tons an hour, which is not hard to do, we need to have at least 80,000 pounds of tractor weight on there.”
Bringing in silage at 120 to 150 tons per hour using just 40,000 pounds to pack will not achieve the goal of at least 15 pounds per cubic foot needed to achieve the optimum density, he notes. “We all want to farm better
so we want to be in the 17 to 18 (area),” he explains. “The only way to do that is to get more weight on the bunker, or slowing our filling speed.” Concrete blocks dragged behind the tractor and skimming tractor blades with concrete are simple ways to add weight for packing silage. DeGroot says chopping the silage finer also helps knock out more air. “One of the best advances
for us on silage for corn … has been kernel processing. They used to talk about three- quarters of an inch to an inch and if you tore or ripped the odd kernels, we were all good,” he says. “That’s not good enough anymore; we need all those kernels smashed, quartered and packed.” Oxygen-barrier plastic will
save 2% to 4% on dry matter but it should only be pulled back slowly to prevent excess oxygen exposure. “Studies show you can
activate oxygen up to six or eight feet back just by lifting the cover,” says James Robinson, a sales representative with Alltech Farming Solutions Ltd. Oxygen can activate dormant fusarium and
penicillium spores that can release mycotoxins and create health issues for animals eating the silage, he explains. Using a defacer for feed-out
reduces the exposed surface area and can result in a dry matter saving of 2% to 4%, says DeGroot. “If you get 100 loads of silage coming in, that’s two to four loads of silage that don’t get to go on the compost pile,” he notes
The sheer face created using a defacer provides the perfect anaerobic conditions to offset any mold that may be growing, adds Robinson. Robinson suggests feeding out six to 10 inches at a time, scraping silage across the entire face of the bunker, then moving the feed to the front of the bunker and mixing in any old feed to clean out the
front of the bunker as best as possible. Poor feed-out systems can
result in a 10% decrease in nutrient value, he notes. DeGroot says adding inoculants can speed up the fermentation process and get the pH down in two to five days versus 14 to 21 days without treatment. He says moisture is key to
silage fermentation so he aims for about 32% moisture in his cool season grasses and 35% for corn.
Robinson says mycotoxins
form after fermentation so maintaining density using an efficient feed-out system and keeping the bunker well covered while using the silage are very important. “The cleaner the bunker
face, the less risk you’re going to put yourself at. The more
moisture you have there, the more risk you’re going to be at.”
Robinson suggests doing an initial mold count on green forage crops to get a baseline and then testing again two to three weeks after getting into the silage. He says there is a 12-hour rapid test kit available in Abbotsford that will identify four mycotoxins that can negatively affect production and reproduction. DeGroot notes that many silage bunkers have not grown at the same rate as herds have and cautions farmers to take safety precautions when testing and packing silage. “We all know someone
who’s had an incident,” he says. “It’s something every farm should talk about.”
Weather affecting corn trials Fewer extreme events means less stress for crop
by JACKIE PEARASE ENDERBY—Weather played
a role in the results of this year’s Sila Grow corn trials in Enderby. Pacific Forage Bag Supply representative Alexis Arthur says she has seen changes in silage corn grown in the Okanagan, Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island. “Across the board, I am seeing some smaller cob
development than maybe I did last year but less stress in the corn. So that got me looking at some of the weather changes that occurred this year compared to last,” Arthur told about 100 people attending the September 13 field day at Bomi Farms where 20 varieties of corn were planted May 13. Temperature highs from May to July were lower this
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year compared to 2018. Total rainfall was considerably lower this spring and summer, except for July when it was more than double than in 2018. Arthur notes that last year’s heat units were 2298 while this year’s stand at 2400. “So although we weren’t as
hot, we have a few higher heat units, mostly because we aren’t reaching those extremes in the same way as we have in the last couple years.” Arthur also provided some
growing advice. She says farmers need to
ensure proper moisture, nutrients and weed control at the five-leaf stage when the plant has initiated tassel and cob development and at the 12-leaf stage when it defines the number of rows it will form. She also suggests that
spraying once for weeds as close to the canopy as possible is not an effective cost-saving measure. “Be mindful that by the
time it’s close to canopy, we’re well past five-leaf stage and so you’re already affecting yield development,” she explains. “So if you can get out there and spray twice, you’re probably going to get a better finish and save your pennies as opposed to lose them.”
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