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Optimise your silage making steps

Making silage steps

Silage is the main winter feed on most farms and it can also fill your feed gap when the ground is too wet for grazing. Optimising your silage making steps will help you maximise animal performance, control costs, and operate more sustainably. We can help you get more out of grass and forage.

The fundamentals of making quality silage

The standard of your silage is driven by two main factors:

  1. Quality of grass and forage when cutting (digestibility).
  2. Quality of the preservation process.

Digestibility specifically depends on:

  • The species in the sward (maintain a minimum of 70% perennial ryegrass in your silage swards).
  • The growth stage when cut.
  • How much leaf is there compared to the stem? Leaves have higher digestibility than stems.
  • Weather conditions at cutting
  • Type of conditioner used
  • Clamping process
  • Silage additives

Preservation is vital for all silages. Well-preserved silage can support animal performance at a similar level to the original forage.

Producing quality grass silage depends on using the best varieties, but optimal soil fertility is also needed for growth. Then you need to make good silage management decisions:

  1. How to preserve silage
  2. When to cut
  3. How to feed

How to make grass silage: 8 production tips

  1. Perennial ryegrass dominant swards will give superior quality silage.
  2. Avoid soil compaction with machinery. Compaction reduces yields and sward persistency.
  3. Soil test regularly to ensure P and K levels are optimised. Here’s our how-to guide on soil fertility.
  4. Control weeds – they can significantly reduce silage quality. Click here for grassland weed control tips.
  5. High or late nitrogen applications make silage more difficult to preserve.
  6. For high-quality silage, harvest five to 10 days before the grass seed heads emerge.
  7. Mow silage swards mid-afternoon on a sunny day to maximise grass-sugar content.
  8. Successful wilting will greatly assist preservation and reduce effluent losses.

Selecting the best grass for silage

When starting your silage making steps, you need to select the right species for your sward:

  • Italian ryegrass (two years) – growing at lower temperatures, Italian ryegrasses (IRG) yield earlier in spring and have quicker regrowth.
  • Hybrid ryegrass (two to three years) – a cross between IRG and perennial ryegrass, hybrid varieties can produce good silage yield for two to three years.
  • Perennial ryegrass (four years+) – the best long-term option is perennial ryegrass (PRG) for its superior digestibility and lasting production.

Silage grass selection tips

  • We don’t recommend mixing IRG and PRG in the same sward as they have different growth patterns.
  • You can also consider producing red clover silage to increase the protein content. Red clover varieties can be added with hybrid or perennial ryegrass.
  • Select varieties with a heading date range no more than seven days apart for optimal yield and digestibility at cutting time. This gives flexibility at cutting time if the weather isn’t in your favour but keeps the growth habit of the plants fairly close so all plants will be at a similar stage of growth before cutting.

Driving sustainable silage production

Aber High Sugar Grass

Livestock only capture around 25% of the protein they consume from grass. This is not only damaging for production but also for the environment. The unused protein is ultimately excreted by the animal as harmful emissions.

Bred exclusively by Germinal Horizon, Aber High Sugar Grass (HSG) varieties have higher water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) compared to standard ryegrasses.

The added energy from WSC helps livestock capture around 20% more protein from grass. This can drive 20% higher liveweight gains and 2% more milk per cow. When used at scale, Aber HSG can benefit both your production and the environment.

Red clover silage

Yielding 12-15 t DM/ha and with 16-20% crude protein, red clover silage produces excellent livestock performance when grown with PRG.

With red clover, you can also benefit from reduced nitrogen inputs. Fixing around 150kg N/ha each year, clover can make your system more efficient and sustainable.

At Germinal Horizon, we are breeding red clovers that can last four to five years in silage swards. Even in year four, AberClaret has the potential to generate 14.6t DM/ha.

Ask the grass and forage experts

Contact the team if you have any questions about our silage making steps or Climate Smart grass and forage

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