A horizontal silo is a storage system where forage is piled in relatively low (i.e., 6 to 20 feet), long piles that might or might not be contained by sidewalls.

The harvest season is over.

For most dairy farms in North America, the feeding of fermented forage in the form of silage remains an integral part of their operation, particularly with today’s unprecedented feed costs as producers try to maximize production from farm-based inputs. In its various forms, corn, grass, haylage, small grains and other silage contribute significantly to the dairy diet.

Management practices for harvesting and storing high-quality forage have been emphasized and discussed for many years, but the importance due to the steady increase in feed costs have never been more important.

Forages are the foundation of dairy cow diets and ensiled forages account for much of the forages fed on dairies around the world.

The process of producing silage involves harvesting a fresh forage crop at a near neutral pH from the field, putting that crop into an enclosed storage system of some sort (e.g. bales, bags, bunkers, pits, piles, towers, etc.) and acidifying the material to reduce its pH, which prevents the growth of spoilage organisms.

Have you ever started the herd on a new silage crop and experienced an intake and milk production crash?

For dairyman Bill Hamilton of Stirlingshire, Scotland, growing corn silage is something to be proud of.

Anyone traveling through the Midwest will see a large assortment of silos: big, small; green, red, blue.

It has been said, the first thing to plant in setting up a managed grazing system is fence posts.