Corn silage has become one of the most used ingredients in the dairy industry. Its high energy content, coupled with its effective fiber, make corn silage an excellent forage for dairy cows.
Production and management of corn silage have evolved considerably since French farmer Auguste Goffart published his book about ensiling green corn in 1877.
The objective of this article is to summarize the latest publications of scientific research on corn silage on management practices and feed quality.
Feedout practices
Dairy producers in the San Joaquin Valley of California were surveyed about their corn silage feeding practices. The study, published recently in the Journal of Dairy Science (Heguy et al., 2016), included 153 dairies averaging 1,512 milking cows.
The silage structures were wedge piles (33.8%), drive-over piles (31.8%), bunkers (7.4%), bags (6.1%) or a combination (20.9%), with fl oor base material of concrete slabs (55.4%), earthen (9.5%) or a combination (35.1%).
- Silage was removed with a frontend loader (85.1% of the dairies), a rake (10.8%) or a defacer (4.1%).
- Daily removal rates were a depth of less than 15 cm on 25.5% of operations, 15-30 cm on 21.3%, 30-45 cm on 29.1% or more than 45 cm on 24.1% and spanned the entire width on 53.6% of operations, half the width on 14.9%, one-third the width on 27.7% or one-fourth the width on 3.5% of the silage face.
- Spoiled forage was discarded on 50.4% of dairies or fed only to heifers or dry cows on 33.1%, lactating cows on 3.0%, lactating and dry cows on 1.5% and lactating cows, dry cows and heifers on 12.0%.
Continue reading this article published in Feedstuffs.
