FEEDING FOCUS September 2016 • Issue 19
Silage quality update – how will this affect winter feeding?
Further analysis of this season’s first and second cut grass silage is now complete and reflects the effects of a wet, mild winter, challenging spring and delayed summer harvest.
In summary, both first and second cut silage may not have the milk yield potential of last year but are more rumen friendly. In most cases, grass silage will need a fermentable energy boost to maximise milk from forage.
The first cut results show that 2016 grass silage has a higher dry matter (DM), lower energy, lower protein and is higher in fibre compared to 2015 results. Second cut results are very similar with the only difference being lower DM compared to 2015.
The table below shows the national averages for this year’s first and second cut silage versus 2015. It also shows the top and bottom 25% of results. Individual silage analysis will be more important than ever this year to determine how to get the most from your silage.
First cut grass silage analysis
Second cut grass silage analysis
2015 average
2016 average
Top 25%
Bottom 25%
2015 average
2016 average
Top 25%
Bottom 25%
DM (%)
31.2
32.4
37.8
26.2
33.9
32
37.6
25.3
ME (MJ/KG DM)
11.4
10.8
11.3
10.4
10.9
10.4
10.9
9.9
Crude Protein (% DM)
13.4
13.3
14.9
11.4
13.6
13.4
15.4
11.3
Sugar (% DM)
6.8
5.1
7.9
6.5
6.7
3.6
6
4.2
NDF (% DM)
47
49.4
54.2
44.4
48.2
51
55.7
45.7
Lactic Acid (% DM)
89
84
101
67
78
85
101
65
D value
71.1
67.7
70.7
65.1
68.2
65.2
68.1
62