Silage Insights

Autumn 2005

With the silage season coming to an end, it is time for our autumn edition of Silage Insights. As with the previous edition, this post-season issue provides you with practical advice, trends, research, and industry news on bale silage.

Particular focus is given in this issue on illustrating the potential of ensiling high value protein and energy crops such as red clover and lucerne. Also, the time is right to have an initial review of the grass quality produced for ensiling this season with the help of a number of European experts.

I wish all of you a pleasant end of the year and a successful preparation for the next silage season.

Alexander Van Veen
Silage Market Manager
Dow Europe GmbH

Effect of ensiling method on the quality of red clover and lucerne silage

Legumes are perceived as difficult crops to ensile due to their low sugar content and high buffering capacity.
A research team from the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER) led by Prof. Raymond Jones harvested red clover and lucerne crops as round bales or ensiled as precision chopped and stored in clamps. Nutritive value of the silages was assessed by feeding to lambs.

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Baled silage of legumes and lupins

Research at IGER has shown the potential for a big bale silage system to conserve high value protein and energy crops. In this article, Raymond Jones highlights the effectiveness of using 6 wraps of film around the bale to preserve legume and lupin silage crops. The fact that big bale silage is perceived as an expensive process compared to clamp silage may be inaccurate according to Jones, if all costs involved are taken into account.

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Horse silage: a high quality way to feed

Keeping horses healthy means feeding them hygienic, high-quality raw feed that covers their basic nutrient requirements and maintains stable intestinal activity. The horse's airways are prone to allergies or chronic illnesses that are fostered by continuous exposure to dust from low-quality hay or straw. In this article, Dr. Johannes Thaysen, Consultant for Fodder Conservation and Fodder Quality in Germany, highlights the key requirements to be taken into account in the production, wrapping and storage of haylage.

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Grass silages Vs. hay in horse feeding

Despite extensive knowledge about producing high quality hay and the availability of technology to improve the drying, the process still depends on the weather condition and farmers are therefore unable to constantly supply their horses with hay of sufficient quality. In this article, Manfred Coenen of the Institute of Animal Nutrition at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hanover, compares hay with haylage, where the latter offers farmers the same opportunities as hay in terms of nutrition and energy as well as other distinct advantages.

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Focus on bacteria: Listeria and Clostridium

Listeria monocytogenes in high numbers can be pathogenic to ruminants, causing meningitis, septicaemia and spontaneous abortion. Clostridium tyrobutyricum is not pathogenic but causes off flavours in milk and cheese. Both can be found in the soil and water. Gérard Corrot from the French Livestock Insitute in Paris outlines how and where bacteria like listeria and clostridium thrive and gives recommendations on how to prevent the formation of these bacteria.

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Market report on bale silage in France

A new report entitled 'Market Survey of Bale Wrapping - France' published by Dow reveals a growing bale wrapping market in France, increased concentration by operators on silage quality and a significant development in emerging markets such as haylage, which has doubled over the last 25 years. Similar to the market reports for UK & Ireland (2003), the Nordic Region (2004) and Germany (2005), Dow devised the report in cooperation with independent local experts, farmers and contractors. Silage Insights brings you a summary of the key trends.

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2005 Silage season highlights review

Silage Insights has asked a number of silage experts to take a look at the grass quality for ensiling from this 2005 silage season in their respective countries.

Germany	Wolfgang Sommer reports on the grass silage quality produced for horse breeding in the North Rhine Westphalia region in Germany
Sweden	Rolf Sporndly reports on grass quality for ensiling in Sweden
Wales	Raymond Jones reports on grass quality for ensiling in Wales

Dow organises European Horse Silage Workshop at ENESAD (France)

Research conducted over the past years in European countries shows a constant developing horse population and haylage is increasingly popular offering safe and healthy nutrition. In this context, Dow held a two-day horse silage workshop on 20-21 October 2005 at ENESAD in Dijon (France), bringing together a selected number of industry players, researchers and experts on silage and equine nutrition to review current horse and haylage market perspectives and to determine research and technical developments required to further develop the European horse market and promote increased silage use. Watch this space for workshop conclusions in the next issue of Silage Insights.

SAC re-launches organic website

The Scottish Agricultural College's has reopened their website dedicated to organic farming. It contains technical advice, research data and educational material for farmers who want to convert from conventional to organic production methods.
Find out more on their website: www.sac.ac.uk/organic-farming

Toolkit for UK farm food enterprises on-line

The Soil Association, a British organic food organisation, has developed a toolkit that provides people with information and advice on local food enterprises, like farm shops. These sort of direct sales businesses have experienced a boost in popularity in recent years in the UK.
Download the toolkit on-line at: www.soilassociation.org/localfood

Organic Farmers & Growers launch new website

Organic Farmers & Growers, the British organic certification body, conducts the inspection and licensing of organic farming and food processing across the UK. For information on the OF&G, organics, licensing, and a calendar of events, visit www.organicfarmers.org.uk

Bales vs. pit silage according to Farmer's Journal:

The Irish magazine Farmer's Journal (FJ) discusses the economical aspects of baled silage in comparison with pit silage. Contractor costs, plastic prices and yield of crop are factors that vary within the total costs for the farmer. An example reported by FJ shows that baled silage still has the economical advantage over pit silage. Read the article on:

http://www.farmersjournal.ie/2005/0702/farmmanagement/dairy/husbandry.shtml