Baled silage is a common practice for storing grass and legume silages mainly in small and medium-size dairy farms. Forage is cut into a wide swath that covers at least 75% of the cut area to reduce moisture content to about 50% as soon as possible.
Wide swaths lead to a more uniform drying which can reduce the presence of wet or green spots in the windrows at baling.
Wrapping baled silage with four plastic layers is recommended to maintain anaerobic conditions within the silage mass; however, this practice may be inadequate for long storage periods.
A recent study published by Researchers from the University of Wisconsin, and the US Dairy Forage Research Center evaluated the effects of 4, 5, or 6 layers of plastic wrap on the silage fermentation and the nutritive value of baled alfalfa-grass silages.
The researchers (Coblentz et al., 2016) wrapped large round bales of a mixed alfalfa-grass sward (60% dry matter; DM) with 4, 5, or 6 layers of a commercial polyethylene wrap (750mm × 1500m × 25μm).
In summary, after the four month storage period, there were no differentiating responses to the number of wrapping layers:
- DM content in the surface (58.2%) and core of the baleages (58.6%).
- Recoveries of DM (99.5%).
- PH in the surface and core of the baleages (5.7).
- Concentrations of total acids (0.89% DM), lactic acid (0.11%), acetic acid (0.78% DM), and ammonia (0.16%).
Continue reading this article published in International Dairy Topics.
