How to cut silage should be mastered by all breeders to prepare healthy fermented feed in lean seasons. It’s not just cutting fresh grass and wrapping it in silage film or putting grass in airtight containers. There are several important instructions for producing good silage and strengthening livestock immunity.
Beginners and experienced alike should keep updating information about how to cut silage. This is very important because maybe the method of cutting the silage that you are currently using is still not right. Moreover, many new methods should be considered for convenience and good quality of fermented feed.
Of course, information on how to cut silage must be accompanied by insight into how to make silage as a whole. You also have to be selective in choosing the silage wrapper that is most resistant to punctures and tears and can protect the silage from exposure to ultraviolet light.
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How Can Cutting Silage Affect the Quality of Fermented Feed?
Cutting silage is part of feedstock management that must be maintained from generation to generation. Especially if you have a lot of livestock, you must prepare for the dry season every year so that the livestock can get enough feed even though the grass is scarce.
How to cut silage covers cutting techniques, time management, and your skills in selecting grass types. After applying the correct silage-cutting technique, the next stage of making fermented feed must be considered. The process of packing and storing the silage bales must be done as effectively as possible using good silage film.
The raw material for silage, in the form of fresh grass, will immediately go through the stages of fermentation and preservation with certain microorganisms. Various studies have shown that the process of making fermented feed, from cutting and wilting to the preservation, will affect the quality of the feed.
In other words, making silage is an organic way of processing feed, and the wrong cutting method will affect the micro-living creatures in the grass. That is what will then affect the high and low quality of fermented feed.
Important Things About How to Cut Silage
There are several things that you should pay attention to in the process of cutting silage. Let’s look at the following descriptions to add insight and improve cutting skills to produce high-quality fermented feed:
Pay attention to Silage Cutting Time
It’s best to cut green grass once in a while and not put it off until days later. Research shows the quality of silage will decrease when the cutting process is delayed because the dry matter will decrease by up to 3 units per weekly harvest.
Regarding mowing time, farmers should monitor the growth of green grass in the meadows from May to June. Silage cutting time is when the seed heads on the new grass appear.
How To Cut Silage Must Be Adapted to Livestock Conditions
Finishing cattle will require fermented feed with different fiber and nutritional qualities from calves or calves. You can consult with a feed expert to adjust the method of cutting so that the nutrients and sugar content produced by fermented feed follow the conditions of the cows on the farm.
Cut the Lawn on a Sunny Day
Grass cut on sunny days and cool night conditions indicates high sugar content in the grass. Make sure the morning dew has just dried from the grass so that the grass-cutting process is of higher quality with high sugar content.
This kind of method will also make the fermented feed last longer with a sugar content that is 3 percent higher. But when the sugar content in the grass is low, you can add molasses or similar substances in the curing process.
Make Sure the Grass is Not Contaminated with Soil
The next way to cut silage is to ensure clean grass cutting. Silage contaminated with soil will result in poor preservation and fermentation processes, and there will likely be a decrease in the quality of the feed.
Withering Stage After the Silage Grass is Cut
The correct silage-cutting process must be followed by the withering process of the grass. You can let the mowed grass sit for 24 to 36 hours to allow the grass to wilt. Then only then can the silage grass be wrapped in high-quality silage film to start the curing stage.
Seeing the description above, all breeders must understand that how to cut silage cannot be arbitrary. You have to set the right time and see the condition of the grass with high sugar content. The withering process after cutting the silage may also face challenges when the weather is bad. So, make sure you equip yourself with many good tools and equipment to support the production of high-quality feed.
Apart from knowing the proper technicalities of how to cut silage, breeders are also encouraged to be selective when collaborating with suppliers who sell supporting equipment for making silage. Especially for film silage, make sure you work with a credible producer. This will allow you to get the best film silage at the most affordable price.