A maize silage feed test provides useful information to help feeding management and may also provide you with ideas of how you can make improvements next season.
Sampling
It is easy to grab a handful of maize silage from a stack, but getting a sample that accurately represents the material in the whole stack is much more difficult.
The best way to get an accurate sample is by using a corer once the stack is open. Take around nine samples from the stack face comprising of three from the lower third, three from the middle and three from the top third. Combine all the samples in a plastic bag, squeeze it to remove as much air as possible and seal it. Send the sample to the laboratory as quickly as possible. The longer the sample is in transit at ambient temperature and exposed to air, the more the quality of the silage drops. Delivering the sample to the laboratory yourself is the best option. Alternatively use an overnight courier but make sure you avoid the sample being in transit over the weekend.
Interpreting the results
Once you have the results of your silage analysis, the next challenge is to work out exactly what they mean. Let's go through the key results of a maize silage test.
If you would like some help interpreting your maize silage analysis or some help on how you can improve next year's maize silage, the team at Pioneer® brand products are happy to assist. Feel free to contact you local Pioneer Representative or call 0800 PIONEER (746 633).