This year’s grass silage is of variable quality and of key concern is (1) the imbalance of energy to protein and (2) the low sugar levels, especially in many second cut silages.  Typically, wet mixes such as Brewers Grains or mixtures of raw materials (i.e. Brewers Grains, wheatfeed, rape meal, syrup, citrus pulp) are used to help intakes of lower value silages.  Combination mixtures are better because they are balanced, and Brewers Grains have too much protein in relation to energy, meaning that they drive the cows with protein but supply insufficient energy.

My colleague, George, grows fodder beet and is mixing some with soya hulls to clamp.  Beet will be washed before chopping and clamped with soya hulls.  The idea is to provide a high-quality palatability driver which will enhance milk constituents, drive intake, help rumen fermentation and allow feeding of fodder beet into the summer.

The example below is a current issue on a client’s farm which needs addressing.  They have purchased some fodder beet for the winter and we wanted to stretch its use through into the summer.  Mashpro 30 (effective type of Brewers Grains) is currently used to encourage intakes (see Original).  Energy and palatability are significant barriers here, which are also difficult to demonstrate physically, but we can raise forage intakes using the fermented fodder beet and soya hulls (see What-If), which can mask the acidity of the current grass silage and significantly boost milk constituents.

If this sounds of interest to you, please contact Wesley or George at wesleyhabershon@fcgagric.com or georgedrewett@fcgagric.com or your local FCG Office.