How to Avoid Losing Feed Value This Year

Thursday, May 8, 2008 10:44 AM CDT

A variety of conditions have increased the value of feed this year according to Brian Holmes, UW-Madison/Extension professor and farm structures specialist.

Increased cost of production, including fertilizer, fuel, equipment, seed and land rent, have made raising crops more expensive. Demand for crops used in fuel production has caused a diversion of cropland to grains at the expense of forage production. Drought conditions in some areas have reduced the supply of feed.

Dairy producers have been searching for ways to reduce their ration costs to help maintain profitability. Holmes said, "One way to save on feed costs is to reduce the loss of feeds during harvest, storage and feeding processes."

Holmes referenced an analysis that was conducted assuming good and fair management practices for alfalfa and corn forage for a 100 cow herd to demonstrate the economic significance of reducing dry matter loss in forage production. Hay and corn silage were fed to lactating cows, dry cows and most heifers at different rates based on dietary needs. Alfalfa silage represented 45 percent and corn silage represented 55 percent of the whole herd forage diet. Hay silage was valued at $150/T DM and corn silage was valued at $125/T DM.

The loss of feed value with good management is $24,160 per year. This includes a 22.8 percent cumulative dry matter loss from alfalfa representing a $13,445 loss and an 18.7 percent cumulative dry matter loss from corn silage representing a $10,715 loss.

The loss of feed value with fair management is $41,031 per year. This includes a 33 percent cumulative dry matter loss from alfalfa representing a $22,378 loss and a 28.6 percent cumulative dry matter loss from corn silage representing an $18,652 loss.

Holmes noted that moving from a fair management practice to a good management practice resulted in a savings of $16,871 for the 100 cow herd used in this analysis.

So, what practices can reduce dry matter losses to move from fair to good forage management? Holmes suggests that to achieve the benefits discussed above, improvements need to be made in all aspects of handling forages from harvest to feeding the animals. These improvements include:

- Proper adjustment of equipment, minimizing hay handling operations and harvesting at the recommended moisture content of 60-65 percent for alfalfa and 65-70 percent for whole plant corn reduces losses during harvest.

- Filling storages as quickly as possible helps to reduce respiration and aerobic deterioration losses during silo filling.

- Packing bunker, pile and bag silos densely during filling helps to exclude oxygen penetration during fermentation, storage and feedout. Exclusion of oxygen and precipitation from the forage during the fermentation and storage stages reduces storage losses. This requires tight silos and proper covering with plastic. Those who have observed any black silage on tops and sides of silos have some areas for improvement.

- Feedout losses may not be so obvious. A rough feedout face where less than 6 inches per day are removed will have larger dry matter losses at feedout than when feedout rates are larger and the face is kept smooth and without fissures. Taking care to remove only the amount of feed needed during a given feeding also helps to reduce aerobic deterioration of that feed as it waits for the next feeding.

- Delivering the correct amount of feed to the mixer wagon and not spilling feed during mixer wagon filling makes for a more correct ration and reduces losses at feeding.

- Close monitoring of feed bunks with adjustments to the quantity of feed delivered at the next feeding reduces the amount of feed refusal.

To learn more about recommendations for proper forage harvest, storage and feedout, see the many articles and spreadsheets available at the Harvest and Storage page of the UW-Extension Team Forage website at URL: http://www.uwex.edu/ces/crops/uwforage/storage.htm.

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