Getting an early handle on your silage quality
After such an unusual grass-growing year, there is plenty of variability in silages saved.
I have been testing a good few 2023 grass silage samples recently. Mainly for dairy herds who have begun buffering spring calves and also for autumn calving herds to formulate fresh diets with cows going in by night. In both scenarios, it is important to give cows good quality silages to maintain performance and complement Autumn grass.
After such an unusual grass-growing year, there is plenty of variability in silages saved. Quality varies around the country and unfortunately, there seems to be an amount of substandard material in yards. Obviously, the feed value of this year’s silage has been significantly influenced by the weather we had in April and May, along with the very poor July. Some were lucky to cut in late April or Early May and have great feeding saved while others ended up with a very late first cut and the knock-on has been a poor 2nd cut too.
