We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.
As summer temperatures increase, hot spots and mold may form in the bunker. Carefully managing the bunker during feedout will help ensure you’re providing cows with the nutrients they need to be productive. Below are a few tips to consider.
High-yielding, quality alfalfa and corn silage place a high demand for potassium on soil’s nutrient- supplying power. To maximize animal performance and profitability, it’s important to look and keep a close eye on the potassium (K) level in your forage fields.
There’s a magic moment during the harvest window when the corn plant dries to a perfect level: The starch content is high, and the crop’s yield potential is at its peak.
It is that time of year again: Harvest is over, and plans are underway for next year’s cropping enterprise. One choice to make soon is which seeds to plant. This is not an easy decision, because so many options exist.
It’s that time of year again: time to start thinking about corn silage harvest. Hopefully, you were able to scout your fields during tasseling time to get an idea of the progression toward maturity. Now you might be asking yourself what adjustments should be made to harvest moisture as you plan your timing.
One of the biggest challenges on a dairy operation is estimating how much feed you have on hand and how long it will last. However, a few simple steps can make your estimating and planning processes easier.
After a harsh winter season, it is important for growers to catch any potential winterkill or injury by walking their alfalfa fields and assessing winter survival. Early detection of winter injury problems is key to making sound forage management decisions.
With fall weather here, frost warnings are on the way. Producers often question the investment value of inoculating frosted forage that has been lying in a swath or windrow for several days. To determine the best course of action, assess the degree of damage to the crop. If you don’t see mold, ensiling is an option. However, if you see mold, ensiling may not be an option
When you are bailing as dry hay or disposal, there are two reasons to have a highly researched inoculant product on frosted forages:
1. Strains can quickly dominate fermentation over undesirable epiphytic (background) microbial populations that come in with the crop
2. Inoculants provide more efficient utilization of fermentation sugars on the crop
The ensiling process involves a bacterial population and a substrate source in the form of soluble sugars to produce sufficient concentrations of silage acids in an effort to reach a desirable terminal pH.
Laying hay in swaths or windrows for several days under certain conditions, such as rain, can cause leeching of the crop’s sugars. According to Pioneer’s technical service sample database, the average soluble sugar concentration of pre-ensiled alfalfa is 10 percent. Rainy weather, for example, will result in forages entering the silo with sugar levels at some concentration less than 10 percent. Frosting over an extended period could have a similar effect.
The bacterial population that comes with the crop, known as epiphytes, generally increases with frosted forages. This doesn’t mean the increased epiphytic colony-forming units (cfu) will make the crop ferment faster. In fact, many of the additional soilborne bacteria are inefficient at helping with fermentation and generate excessive heat during the ensiling process.
Highly researched bacteria in inoculants better utilize the remaining sugars in frosted forages, ensuring efficient fermentation. Relying on epiphytic populations that came with the crop can be inefficient and may exhaust the plant sugars before achieving a desirable terminal pH level.
Silage fermentation is a highly complex process dependent on many variables that are exacerbated by stresses such as frost. Epiphytes coming in with the crop are constantly changing, and inoculation minimizes the variability of this factor. Pioneer’s forage additive researchers select inoculants to work across a wide variety of conditions, and even outside of this range, these inoculants are better than gambling on nature.
One of the research criteria for choosing the strain combinations in inoculant products is their ability to dominate quickly over the epiphytic population coming in with the crop, resulting in highly efficient fermentation.
With fall weather here, frost warnings are on the way. Producers often question the investment value of inoculating frosted forage that has been lying in a swath or windrow for several days.
