The current hot weather has helped to increase heating in TMR’s and forages more than normal. Heating is caused by these main reasons;

a) Moisture
b) Higher PH (4.2+)
c) High sugar levels
d) Insufficient Lactic acid
e) Poor silage management
f) Aerobic conditions
g) High Volatile Fatty Acids including Acetic, Butyric and Clostridial bacteria. Linked to soil contaminants.

All forages will devalue and rot but the more pickled a forage is the longer it takes.  The key point is to turn sugars into lactic acid and so decrease the PH below 4.

After visiting Denmark, the key observation was the coolness of their TMR’S especially when some of the TMR’s had been mixed 3 days ago and were in full contact with the sun.  Denmark is experiencing the same weather as the UK albeit slightly cooler.

The predominant theme on the farms we visited was the adding of water to rations in either “semi-compact” or full “compact feeding” where forages and concentrate are finely chopped and mixed into a mix looking like brewer’s grains.  Cows were unable to sort and therefore stopped moving forages around searching for concentrate.  This reduces aerobic conditions.

All farms either used formic acid or a fresh powder product to preserve forages for longer.  Formic acid was added with water to a tonne of feed as a normal procedure, although some farms preferred to use the safer powder products available on the market.  On a hot summer day there was no heating on either farm and so they must be onto something.  Sorting and heating cost us in uneaten forages and energy lost so anything we can do to avoid this has much merit.  I will be looking at how to enact some of these procedures during the hot weather on my farms.

If you would like to know more, then please e-mail Wesley at wesleyhabershon@fcgagric.com or contact your local FCG Office.