Ecosyl UK research has found that selecting the right wilting technique when making grass silage can speed up the process by up to five times. The research, which was conducted on farms in Wales using farm-scale silage machinery, compared the effects of tedding, time of day of cutting, and crop maturity on the rate of crop drying.
The results showed that tedding the grass after cutting increased the rate of wilting by up to 30%. Cutting the grass in the morning also resulted in faster wilting, as the dew on the grass helped to cool it down and reduce the rate of evaporation. Finally, the research found that the most mature grass wilted the fastest, as it had a higher water content.These findings suggest that farmers can speed up the silage wilting process by using the right techniques. Tedding the grass after cutting, cutting it in the morning, and harvesting the most mature grass will all help to reduce the amount of time it takes to make silage.
It is essential to take good care of grass silage made this year. Increasing milk production from home-grown silage is a great way to improve profitability.
Good quality silage starts with good quality grass, and cutting at the right stage of growth is key to achieving this, a one-week delay in cutting is equivalent to 1.2l of milk/cow/day. Allowing crops to “Bulk up” may mean more silage in the pit on any single cut, but generally cutting more often means you will grow more grass through the season – so potentially more silage of a better quality.
Ecosyl additives such as Ecocool have been shown to typically reduce the fermentation losses by half and also to improve aerobic stability, keeping the silage cooler for longer. In addition, the Ecosyl range has a considerable weight of evidence from independent feeding trials which demonstrate improved animal performance for dairy, beef and sheep.
