Storing Forage in Piles by Jerry Clark Introduction For a number of years farmers have utilized silage piles for short-term storage of forage crops. Proper management of a silage pile is crucial to assure that forage quality is maintained for delivering to livestock. The most critical step in silage pile management is packing. Without proper packing, […]
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Packing Bunker and Pile Silos to Minimize Porosity by Brian J. Holmes and Richard E. Muck Why is silage density important when packing bunkers and piles? Attaining a high silage density is important for two primary reasons. Most importantly, density and dry matter content determine the porosity of the silage. Porosity, in turn, sets the rate […]
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Propionic Acid Preservatives for Hay by Wayne Coblentz1, Dan Undersander2, and Michael Bertram3 1US Dairy Forage Research Center, Marshfield, WI 2Department of Agronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison 3Superintendent, University of Wisconsin Arlington Agricultural Research Station Introduction Hay producers working in humid environments are well-acquainted with the consequences of baling moist hays, which include heating, molding, losses of dry […]
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Big Bale Storage Losses; how different options stack up by Craig Saxe Introduction When harvesting baled hay, it’s not always easy to control weather related losses, but storage loses should be more controllable. After all, a lot of time, energy and expense have gone into producing a high quality and high value baled product. Many would […]
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Transferring Silage between Silos by Randy Shaver and Jim Leverich Introduction We often receive questions from dairy producers about the practice of transferring silage from the silo where it was originally stored to a more conveniently located silo for feeding. This occurs when silage is bought and sold between operations, moves from farm to farm […]
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Feedout Losses from Forage Storage Systems by Jerry Clark, Brian Holmes, and Richard Muck Introduction Much expense and time go into harvesting and storing good quality forage. You wouldn’t think of throwing away one third of this forage. However, this is what can happen without proper storage and feedout management. This fact sheet discusses storage feedout […]
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Recycling Silo Bags and Other Agricultural Plastic Films by Brian J. Holmes and Roger Springman Plastic films are used extensively for silo bags, bunker covers, bale wraps, and horticultural mulch. Managing large, dirty plastic sheets is a major headache and cost for Wisconsin farmers. Until recently, the only legal disposal option for most farmers […]
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A new paper titled Corn Silage Processing: Dairy Farm Survey has been posted on the Feeding & Testing and Corn Silage pages.
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A new Focus on Forage fact sheet, Influence of Ensiling on the Digestibility of Whole-Plant Corn Silage, has been posted to the Focus on Forage, Feeding and Testing, and Corn Silage pages.
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A new article, Shrink is a Deceptive Term, has been added to the Harvest and Storage page under the Silage Harvesting and Equipment section.
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