Improper silage moisture is a common mistake made on farms that store such forage.
John McKinnon, a University of Saskatchewan researcher and head of JJM Nutrition Services in Sasktatoon, sees it often on farms where he consults about cattle nutrition.
But in many cases, it’s not the producer’s fault because proper moisture depends on whether the custom harvester operated during the optimum time.
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“There’s no real tried and true solution to that issue,” said McKinnon. “Basically, if you’ve seriously moved past the maturity or the moisture stage that it should be taken off, you’re really influencing the fermentation characteristics subsequently in that pile. It’s a difficult situation.”
Why it matters: Many beef farms that feed silage rely on custom operators to chop the crop, but when everyone’s silage corn is ready at the same time, timing is an issue.
McKinnon said some farms try to manage the issue at the other end of the season by spreading out planting dates.
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Silage is more popular in Manitoba than it was in decades past. Producers are attracted to the feed’s high energy content. It was also a strategy recommended as a hedge against poor hay crops. In 2021, grain farmers were encouraged to turn flagging cereal stands into greenfeed or silage to aid feed shortages in the livestock sector.
More silage means greater demand for custom silage operators, which are still the go-to option for many livestock operations. However, it’s expensive to establish a custom silage operation, said provincial livestock specialist Shawn Cabak. A chopper, trucks and packers are required so the costs are prohibitive.
“Maybe there is a bit more demand than there is supply availability in terms of the custom work. It can be a bit of a lag,” said Cabak.
The other option is for a farmer to buy their own equipment or buy jointly with neighbours. That might get the farmer or farmers a more timely harvest but it is likely to take longer. Farm-owned equipment is typically smaller than what custom operators can bring to bear, Cabak said. Labour is another challenge.
“If you’re putting up your own silage, you need a chopper. You need a few drivers. You need someone driving, so you need at least four or five people and a lot of farms just don’t have that,” Cabak said. Those challenges may be reduced if several farms buy the equipment together.
Round bale silage may be a better option in terms of producer cost, Cabak noted, since the equipment investment is significantly less. That option has grown more popular for oat, barley or alfalfa silage.
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Trying to save it
McKinnon has seen farmers try to salvage an overly mature stand. In some cases they add other fermentable carbohydrates to the pile, hoping to make up the moisture gap, “but most people don’t have anything on hand that’s going to be readily available to do that.
“Ideally, you’re working with your custom operators to set a window of when you’re going to take that crop off,” he said.
If the producer does miss the window for corn silage, Cabak said it might be better to graze the standing crop, which immediately eliminates the cost of chopping. As well, corn grazing is among the most economical winter feed options, as noted in the province’s 2023 cost of production models.
Producers can expect costs of $1.28 per cow per day, based on 150 head grazing for 35 days. In comparison, pre-calving cows in the lot were projected to eat from $1.93 to $2.12 worth of feed per cow per day in the three modeled rations based on corn or barley silage. Projected rations were based on 135 days of winter feeding before calving.
Turning cows into the cornfield raises new challenges for producers who are not used to the practice.
“They want to do their homework and it has to be done right,” said Cabak. “You can’t just turn the cows out and do a full field of corn and let them graze it for a month or two.”
Supplemental hay is one commonly cited step to success. Producers are advised to add a hay bale before opening up a new paddock of corn. The goal is to get cattle to fill up on hay before going into a fresh area so they don’t gorge on cobs.
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Similarly, producers must get a sense for best paddock size and grazing time spent in each. Experts advise producers to size paddocks to provide a few days’ worth of grazing. Cattle are then forced to eat the less palatable leaves and stalks once the cobs run out.
Adequate winter water sources are vital and can be a challenge. Protein content and mineral supplement should also be monitored.
Producers may bemoan the waste of in-field corn grazing compared to whole-plant use in silage, but Cabak debated the significance of that loss.
“The residue is actually nutrients that are going back into the landscape, back into the field. It may be some lost feed, but with cross fencing, giving them only two or three days of corn at a time, you can control their access. You improve utilization and you also help prevent grain overload.
“You can push them to clean it up better. Even the residue has good feed value, so there’s no reason why the cows shouldn’t be eating it [and] no reason not to make them eat it.”
Silage is “beneficial because you have less harvesting losses,” Cabak added. “You don’t have to worry about the weather so much with silage because it’s not having to dry down to that 14, 16 per cent like you do for greenfeed.”
Some producers turned to silage for this year’s first cut of hay when excessive rain precluded haying.
“But you have that extra cost, extra equipment,” Cabak noted. “If you’re doing custom, well then you’re waiting on custom harvesters.”
