Make the most of your maize silage this harvest

Once your maize crop has reached harvest point, your focus needs to shift from maximising crop yield and quality to minimising losses. Good stack management coupled with a proven maize silage inoculant can help ensure you lose less drymatter and nutrients.

Why use a silage inoculant?

Most crops lack enough of the right bacteria to ensure a fast, efficient fermentation. Silage inoculants contain large numbers of tested and proven "good" bacteria. They multiply when added to the crop at harvest time, controlling the fermentation process. As a result, less energy and drymatter are lost during ensiling, and you get more feed energy, which your cows can use to produce more milk.

The positive effects of silage inoculants include:

• Lower silage pH
• Greater drymatter recovery (less shrinkage, spoilage and run-off)
• Improved silage digestibility (higher feed energy levels)
• Increased animal performance (more milk or more meat per tonne of silage fed)

Reduce heat

Maize silage is more prone to heating at feed-out time than other silages because it contains a high concentration of starch and sugars. Silage inoculants like Pioneer® brand 11C33RR can help keep silage cooler for longer. In fact, a New Zealand trial showed 11C33RR inoculated maize silage stayed cooler 97 hours longer than an untreated control – meaning you can leave the stack open for longer without the risk of heating. Plus, you have the flexibility to feed out a day in advance.

Compact well

Compaction removes air from the silage stack so the fermentation process can begin. Ensure your maize is well compacted by matching the size and number of compaction vehicles with the rate of maize silage delivery to the stack. A better compaction will be achieved if maize is spread in thin (100-150 mm) layers.

Seal the stack

Seal the edges of the stack or bunker using sand or lime. Use a high-grade plastic cover and weigh it down securely using tyres that are touching. Place rodent baits in stations around the stack and refill them regularly.

Opening stacks or bunkers

While the maize in your stack or bunker can be fed out immediately, its feed value will increase slightly over time as fermentation bacteria improve the availability of nutrients, especially starch. For this reason, it is recommended farmers always keep a stack of maize silage on hand so last year's silage can be fed out while the new silage is fermenting.

Face and pace

Two critical factors associated with reducing silage losses are management of the front (or face) of the stack and feed-out rate. Design your bunker or stack so you can remove 15-20 cm from the stack face each day. Keeping the stack face tight throughout the feed-out period will reduce the time the silage is exposed to the air. This will decrease the risk of mould growth and spoilage and help minimise energy and drymatter losses.

Get more maize silage drymatter and energy and reduce spoilage and losses by using a Pioneer® brand inoculant and following good management practices this harvest time. Your cows will thank you.

For more information on Pioneer® brand inoculants click here or contact to your local Pioneer representative.