A report by the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences offers tips and up-to-date information on silage based on practical experiments.
Since silage is widely used as a fodder for Danish cattle, it is important to update knowledge on how to produce and use a top quality product. Knowledge and handy silage-making tips can be downloaded in a report from the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences. Photo: Niels Bastian Kristensen
Silage is an important method of preserving fodder for cattle. Danish farmers annually invest around 2.7 billion Danish kroner in making silage out of maize and grass. Nevertheless, there is a lack of knowledge about some aspects of ensiling and silage.
To fill the gaps in our knowledge on silage, scientists at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences have helped conduct a series of on-farm investigations and trials. The results from these efforts have just been published in the report, "Ensiling of maize and grass."
- Many dairy farmers and advisors are uncertain about the use of silage additives when faced with sales arguments for the use of one product over another. Part of the uncertainty may be because the vast majority of work on silage additives has been performed in laboratories and pilot plants. These results may not be directly transferable to practice, according to research professor and editor of the report, Niels Bastian Kristensen.
Cows tolerate alcohol
A few of the topics the survey shed some light on was the significance of the contents of respectively alcohol and fungal toxins in the silage for cow health and appetite.
On the basis of studies conducted in 2005-2010, the scientists concluded that in the amounts normally present in maize silage alcohol does not harm the cows – you could in fact say that the opposite is true in that some types of alcohol act as nutrients. Cows have a large liver (over 10 kg) and can consume large quantities of alcohol with no ill effects. In addition to the liver, the microorganisms in the rumen also help to convert the alcohol. A dairy cow can therefore imbibe more than one litre of pure alcohol per day without it having the slightest intoxicating effect.
Fungal toxins are a different story as they can be harmful to cattle if consumed. Moulds can grow on both maize and maize silage. The fungus not only destroys the maize but also produces harmful toxins. Investigations reveal that under normal circumstances Danish dairy cows (and consumers) are not exposed to sufficiently large quantities of fungal toxins from silage for them to become a threat to health.
The report presents new findings on silage additives and ensiling losses.
The projects are a collaboration with more than 80 dairy farmers, a number of machine suppliers, the Technical University of Denmark, the Plant Directorate, the Danish Cattle Federation and AgroTech and is financed by, among others, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries and the Danish Cattle Federation.