Feed efficiency is at the heart of profitable beef production, especially as rising input prices continue to squeeze margins. One of the greatest opportunities to improve performance and reduce costs lies in the quality of silage produced on farm.
Making high-quality, well-fermented silage is key to the overall wellbeing and sustained growth of beef cattle. By focusing on best practices when silage making, farmers can preserve the potential of every tonne of homegrown forage produced, avoid the significant losses that can occur between harvest and feedout, and deliver a stronger return on investment.
Matthew Bekker, ruminant technical manager at Lallemand Animal Nutrition (LAN), explains.
“Homegrown preserved forage is the most economical and sustainable way for farmers to feed stock. We like to call it winning the race,” he says. What this means is that with optimum silage production techniques, “everything that comes from the field on the day of ensiling is still available to be digested by the animal on the day of feed intake.”
Making high-quality silage starts in the field, from selecting crops that are aligned with production targets, to working closely with agronomists, contractors or the LAN technical support team to ensure the forage is harvested at the optimal point to maximize energy value and protein content.
“The crop must be harvested at the absolute correct time for maximum starch, energy, protein, and Neutral Detergent Fiber Digestibility (NDFd),’’ Matthew advises. “We want all that energy, and the true protein, to be available to the cattle.”
Keeping the true protein of silage intact allows the animal to digest the amino acids within it, and to rebuild its own protein and fractions from that base.
Animal protein, whether it’s in the form of muscle, connective tissue, hormones, or enzymes, is made up of 20 common amino acids. If these are not whole in the feed at digestion, then cattle will need to build them up again from scratch.
“In a beef growing diet, in particular, we want cattle to lay down as much tissue as possible,’’ explains Matthew. “If protein is allowed to break down in the silage bunker, non-protein dietary ammonia is generated – this will be measured as crude protein in a feed analysis, but it won’t be accessible to the animal.”
“In silage the starch is the accelerator pedal and the NDF the brake, these need to be balanced up because we don’t want them moving too quickly through the animal, to keep them in situ for long enough to be digested.’’
Using an inoculant will prevent harmful environmental bacteria from breaking down valuable protein. An inoculant will also help speed up fermentation, lower the pH of silage to safe and optimal levels, preserve dry matter (DM) content, and stabilize lactic acid concentrations.
Matthew continues: “Ensiling is very important at the “front end’’ for preservation of nutrients and at the “back end” because the silage needs to be stable once exposed to oxygen when the bunker sheet is rolled back and the cattle start eating the forage.’’
Stability is critical, otherwise when oxygen is introduced molds and yeasts will form.
“All the work the farmer will have done in harvesting a good crop can go wrong at this stage – once again that is why an inoculant must be allowed to work so that the silage is stable at feedout,’’ says Matthew.
Using an inoculant like MAGNIVA Platinum 1 prevents heating, spoilage and DM losses, ensuring cattle feed on the best quality silage.
Trials show that, 14 days after opening the bunker, silage treated with MAGNIVA Platinum 1 had 99% lower mold and yeast levels compared to untreated silage. This resulted in a 13% dry matter loss saving compared to the control, meaning a 1,000 tonne bunker would provide 43 tonnes more of available silage compared to the control.
Silage treated with inoculants maintains its nutrient and energy value, delivering higher average daily gain (ADG) while lowering dry matter intake (DMI).
Matthew agrees: “Inoculants can improve the energy density of the total ration therefore cattle will need to eat less of it, or it can be included at a higher rate, replacing elements of some other expensive feed ingredients to meet their nutritional requirements.”
Inoculants promote silage palatability by speeding up fermentation, enhancing nutrient preservation, and improving aerobic stability at the feedout face. By steering the fermentation process, they also reduce the production of undesirable, unpalatable compounds like moulds, mycotoxins, ammonia and butyric acid, while maintaining desirable silage components by promoting rapid lactic acid driven fermentation.
Achieving good silage palatability is essential to help beef producers achieve high daily liveweight gains (DLWGs) in growing and finishing cattle. Matthew concludes:
“Good palatability will ensure cattle regularly visit the feed bunk. If there’s spoiled silage in the feed, then animals are less likely to return. Inconsistency in the ration can result in gorging too if cattle find a section that is palatable, resulting in pH fluctuations.
“Potentially you then get a vicious cycle of boom and bust, so it’s really critical that every mouthful is the same high-quality, so that the cattle keep browsing. With consistent feed intake, DM is maximized and rumen health maintained.’’
