Tl mail animallallemand.com HOW MUCH OF YOUR MAIZE … · 2020. 9. 3. · HOW MUCH OF YOUR MAIZE SILAGE WILL ACTUALLY GET FED? ISSUE 5 SEPTEMBER 2020 LAN TALK Roy Eastlake National

LALLEMAND ANIMAL NUTRITION

GRAPHICAL CHARTSPECIFICFOR YOURSUCCESS

LALLEMANDANIMAL NUTRITION

LALLEMAND ANIMAL NUTRITIONTél : +33 (0) 562 745 555 - Email : [email protected]

www.lallemandanimalnutrition.com

Every year a significant proportion of maize silage that farmers have invested in growing will not be fed due to aerobic instability leading to heating and waste. But a combination of a number of small changes can make a huge difference as Roy Eastlake explains.Typically, over 18% of maize silage will be lost due to wastage but through good management the dry matter losses that can be saved in maize clamps is around 15% which is a staggering amount!

Look at the numbers Every year around six million tonnes of maize silage are made for dairy cows, which at 32%DM equates to 1.92 million tonnes of dry matter. 15% waste adds up to around 288,000 tonnes of dry matter being wasted, which at a cost of £99/tDM adds up to £28.5 million of wasted feed production costs.

With an estimated 5000 dairy farmers growing maize in the UK, this works out at £5,700 per farm and to this must be added the cost of replacing the feed value with extra concentrates.

To improve aerobic stability in maize we need to get to grips with the yeasts and moulds found on all crops, which when exposed to air cause silage to heat up and create the physical waste common on many clamps. successful strategies to reduce waste begin and end with stopping yeasts and moulds by reducing their numbers and restricting their access to oxygen both while the clamp is sealed and after it is opened.

Attention to detail on clamp and ensiling management together with a proven effective crop specific inoculant will minimise the wastage of maize silage and have a significant impact improving dairy margins and the return on your investment in maize.

AT HARVEST• Cut at the optimum 32% DM. Too dry

and it will be harder to consolidate

• Use a Magniva Platinum inoculant which contains specially selected heterofermentative bacteria which quickly produce powerful antifungal compounds to significantly reduce the level of yeasts and moulds, improving immediate aerobic stability

• Build the clamp in layers no more than 20cm thick

• Consolidate the clamp to a target density all over the clamp of 240kgs DM/m3 (750kgs fresh weight/m3)

• Seal the clamp with a high-quality proven oxygen barrier such as Silostop and new plastic sheeting before being fully weighted down, particularly on the shoulders

AT FEEDOUT• Aim to get across the face as quickly

as possible to reduce exposure to air – target no more than seven days. If needs be, take smaller slices to reduce the time getting across the face

• Roll back the top sheets little and often, minimising the area left uncovered. Make sure the lead edge of the sheet is heavily weighted down to stop air getting in under the edge

• Use a block cutter or defacer to minimise disruption and leave a tight face

• Keep the face clean and never leave loose silage on the ground touching the face

• Discard all waste silage immediately

HOW MUCH OF YOUR MAIZE SILAGE WILL ACTUALLY GET FED?

ISSUE 5SEPTEMBER 2020

LAN TALK

Roy Eastlake National Technical Support ManagerTel: 07733 100199

The Higgins Family, Wilderley Hall, Shropshire

LALLEMAND ANIMAL NUTRITION SPECIFIC FOR YOUR SUCCESSwww.lallemandanimalnutrition.com

Lallemand Animal Nutrition’s Lientjie Colahan suggests the next few months can tell you a great deal about the success of this silage season and give some real improvement opportunities for next year if you act now.With the 2020 silage-making season drawing to a close, now is the time to reflect on how successful it was and where changes and improvements can be made moving forward to increase the contribution from forage, to allow feed cost savings and improve profitability. Many of the answers will be found by looking closely and critically at your silage clamps.

The starting point to producing more from forage, is to make more, high quality feed. So the first thing to do is a stock take of all forages produced – grass, maize and wholecrop. How much silage is in the clamps and how does this compare to your targets? How many kilograms of dry matter can you feed per cow per day?

You should be targeting for a minimum of 12kg and every extra kilo dry matter fed will produce two more litres, allowing a saving of a kilo of concentrates.

If you are going to go through the winter with less than 12kgDM/day then start thinking now about the cost benefit of increasing forage production.

Look at the clamp face. How much waste is there? A layer of waste on the top and shoulders is a clear sign of poor sheeting and inadequate weighting down. You don’t have to accept this waste so think about how you could sheet down better.

How tight is the face? If you can easily push your finger into the face then the crop was not

consolidated enough and you will see moulds and the crop heating up.

Are there random hot spots? These are another sign of poor consolidation

Waste is a huge cost and reduces how much silage made gets fed so plan to reduce it next year through a better silage-making approach.

Have you produced the high quality, consistent feed to drive production? The analysis can reveal a great deal and show where you can improve. Looking specifically now at grass silage analysis:

Look at the ME content. You should be able to achieve an average of 11.5 MJ/kgDM with grass silage with no more than 1MJ variation between cuts. A greater variation will impact on yields and is a result of the cutting interval being too

long. Moving to the Opticut system will improve energy content without compromising yield.

What about dry matter? You want a dry matter of 30-35% to maximise intake potential while minimising losses due to poor compaction. If silage is too dry, consider how many times it was moved between mowing up and picking up. Many crops need less tedding than people think.

Next look at NDF which should be as close to 45% as possible. If NDF is higher then the grass was probably too mature when harvested and will be less digestible.

Reviewing your analysis will give some good steers for improving your silage making process to increase production from forage. Pre-cut testing should be a key part of your management.

As soon as a clamp is opened you introduce air which activates yeasts and moulds leading to wastage and heating. This can be significantly reduced by using Magniva Platinum inoculants which contain heterofermentative bacteria, by

sealing the clamp well and by maintaining a clean tight face.

If you see face waste and heating, what changes can be made to reduce the problems next year?

Armed with your answers to these questions and an honest assessment of your clamps you have identified some areas where better management will boost production from forage. So start planning now for a better 2021 season.

WHAT CAN YOUR SILAGE CLAMPS TELL YOU?

QUESTION 1 ARE THE CLAMPS FULL ENOUGH?

QUESTION 3 HOW WELL DID YOU BUILD THE CLAMPS?

QUESTION 2 WHAT IS THE QUALITY LIKE?

QUESTION 4 HOW STABLE ARE THE CLAMPS?

PLAN NOW






LAN TALK

Lientjie ColahanTechnical SupportTel: 07884 312382


Control LEVUCELL SC Difference P-value

Milk performance (kg/d)ECM (kg/d)

29.5

42.2

31.8

44.2

+2.3

+2.0

0.0001

0.0001

Milk performance (kg/d)ECM (kg/d)

25.8

37.7

26.7

38.7

+0.9

+1.0

0.0001

0.0001

% of cows with good Control LEVUCELL SCRuminating Activity 60% 80%

Rumen Fill 60% 83%

Cleanliness 80% 91%

Manure Consistency 60% 100%

Manure Sieving - Digested grain 40% 80%

Manure Sieving - Digested fibre 80% 100%






LAN TALK

Despite their smaller size, Jersey cows are extremely efficient feed converters and have the capability to achieve a greater percentage of dry matter intake (DMI) in relation to their body weight, 4.5% compared to 4.0% in larger dairy breeds. However, the key to ensuring the herd reach their full performance potential can hugely depend on rumen efficiency. A poor rumen environment is both costly for farmers and can result in a reduced milk yield.

A recent trial, carried out in 2019 on a commercial dairy farm in Scotland, has shown that feeding the rumen specific live yeast LEVUCELL SC (Saccharomyces cerevisiae CNCM I-1077) maximises milk performance throughout lactation in Jersey cows with a proven ROI of 4:1. In addition, the trial demonstrated rumen efficiency indicators are also improved.

The trial took place over 84 days and involved 22 early lactation Jersey cows – 0 to 50 Days In Milk (DIM), and 83 middle and late lactation Jersey cows – 50 to 350 DIM.

As shown in Table 1, there was a significant difference in milk performance between the control group which did not receive the addition of LEVUCELL SC, and the lactating cows which had LEVUCELL SC added to their diet at 1g/cow/day rate.

The data showed an increase for all stages of lactation, with the greatest response seen in early lactating cows, with an improved milk production of 2.3kg per head per day.

Throughout the trial, both the control group and LEVUCELL SC group were fed the same base diet of grass silage, wholecrop, draff, straw, blend and mineral supplementation. The only difference between the groups was the addition of LEVUCELL SC.

As well as the improved milk performance, LEVUCELL SC greatly improved the visible indicators of rumen efficiency and the animal’s ability to digest both forage and grain content of the diet more effectively. As shown in Table 2, a much larger proportion of Jersey cows which were fed LEVUCELL SC had better rumen efficiency.

For most dairy producers, feed costs represent their most significant economic burden. This trial has demonstrated that LEVUCELL SC can both reduce feed costs and increase turnover, resulting in an overall return on investment (ROI) of 4:1 and £0.27 per cow per day. When applied across the whole herd, this generated significant financial gains; for 180 cows in milk, it represented a daily £48.60 (£1,506/month) increase in Income Over Feed Cost (IOFC).

With the continuous milk price challenge dairy farmers face, coupled with squeezed profit margins,

many farmers are examining ways to reduce their cost of milk production. However, finding methods to achieve this without impacting yield can be extremely challenging. As shown by the trial results, adding LEVUCELL SC to the diet can provide farmers with both an improved milk performance and improvement in IOFC.

For more information, or to view the full trial results, contact your Regional Business Manager, or call us on 01684 580022.

TAKING MILK PERFORMANCE TO THE NEXT LEVEL WITH A PROVEN ROI

TABLE 1 LEVUCELL SC MAXIMISES MILK PRODUCTION THROUGHOUT LACTATION

TABLE 2 LEVUCELL SC IMPROVES THE VISIBLE INDICATORS OF RUMEN EFFICIENCY

Undigested material remaining after manure sieving - control group

Undigested material remaining after manure sieving - LEVUCELL SC groupRumen Efficiency Investigation (REI) scores on

day 84 of the trial period

ECM: Energy Corrected Milk

DIM

>50

DIM

<50


MEET THE TEAM

ANWEN JONESREGIONAL BUSINESS MANAGER IN WALES

Anwen Jones is Lallemand Animal Nutrition UK Regional Business Manager in Wales. She has nearly 20 years’ experience of working in the ruminant sector working with dairy, beef and sheep farmers focusing on nutrition and management.

What is your background? I began my career with BOCM Pauls before moving to Keenan, where my passion for ruminant nutrition really developed as I formulated diets for over 120 herds across Wales.

I then moved to Strathclyde Nutrition advising and selling a diverse range of feed products and grain preservatives to farmers and merchants. For the last five years I have been Dairy Development Manager with Bibby Agriculture with a strong focus on nutrition, production and welfare with a particular interest in rumen efficiency.

What is your role with Lallemand?Working across Wales, I will provide technical support and training to farmers, distributors and feed compounders. I aim to promote the extensive range of Lallemand products to new and existing customers and look forward to working with all farming systems by significantly improving forage production and utilisation.

What is your driving objective? Quite simply, helping farmers improve production and utilisation of forage. Efficient use of forage will be the foundation of sustainable ruminant farming and I want to help farmers to push the boundaries on production from forage which is more cost-effective than any purchased feeds.

We are in an economic environment where margins are being squeezed while at the same time the demands

of consumers and regulators is increasing. My goal is to help farmers place forage front and centre of how their enterprises reach their productive potential to maximise margins.

How does working for Lallemand help you achieve this?Lallemand Animal Nutrition is at the forefront of the development and application of high quality nutritional products to drive efficiency in all classes of farm livestock. Our products are based on access to unrivalled global R&D. In many sectors of the industry, Lallemand Animal Nutrition are market leaders which speaks volumes for the company. In addition to outstanding proven products, I will be able to provide customers with access to a professional range of technical services to monitor progress.

Prioritise your forage to optimise production and profitability.






LAN TALK

We have joined up with leading maize seed producers LG Seeds in the Maize CropWatch series with Farmers Guardian.The series focuses on helping growers improve their return on investment on maize. It will explore management actions to ensure maximum yields of high quality forage through a combination of correct variety choice, efficient harvesting and ensiling and well managed feed out.

Look out for the regular columns in Farmers Guardian or visit the online hub at fginsight.com/MaizeCropWatch

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR MAIZE WITH MAIZE CROPWATCH


Tl mail animallallemand.com HOW MUCH OF YOUR MAIZE … · 2020. 9. 3. · HOW MUCH OF YOUR MAIZE SILAGE WILL ACTUALLY GET FED? ISSUE 5 SEPTEMBER 2020 LAN TALK Roy Eastlake National

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