Waste silage is a huge drain on farm profits and one of the ways farmers can limit this is through the use of a silage additive.

For farmers aiming to make high-quality silage, the inclusion of an additive can significantly help improve silage fermentation and quality.

This is important as increasing silage quality will lead to a higher level of production on beef, dairy and sheep farms.

As part of Cut to Clamp, a new initiative from Volac which aims to help farmers make consistently better silage, we take a look at the important factors to remember when it comes to using a silage additive.

1. It’s not just a preservative

Farmers need to be aware that a silage additive is more than just a forage preservative.

Trials show that using a proven silage additive can result in more silage being recovered from the grass that was originally put in the clamp or pit.

15 trials, using the MTD/1 strain of Lactobacillus Plantarum in Ecosyl, have shown that Dry Matter recovery was boosted by 3.7% when compared to non-treated silage.

And if 1,000t of DM silage were originally clamped, that would equate to an extra 37t back at feed-out.

2. Better quality silage

The use of silage additives has also been shown to increase silage quality.

Various trials show that using the MTD/1 strain of Lactobacillus Plantarum in Ecosyl improves digestibility, energy content and Dry Matter intakes of silage.

Key benefits of using a silage additive:
  • Silage Metabolisable Energy (ME) content increased by an average of 0.7MJ/kgDM.
  • Silage digestibility improved by an average of 3 D units.
  • Dry Matter intakes increased by 5% on average.

Extra production from treated silage

Given the increase in energy content, digestibility and Dry Matter intakes, the use of treated silages also leads to an increase in animal performance.

dairy cows silage

MTD/1-treated silage has been shown to improve milk yield by an average of 1.2L/cow/day in 15 various trials.

The level of live-weight gain achieved by finishing beef animals was also 19% higher on diets containing treated silage compared to untreated silages.

This post is sponsored by Volac as part of its new Cut to Clamp initiative, which aims to raise the profile of good silage as a vital part of modern farming. For more information on the Cut to Clamp initiative click here