Lower pH measurements result in restricted cell growth and enzyme activity. So, ensiling involves preserving forage, excluding oxygen, and reducing the pH quickly through bacterial fermentation.
A fire can mean a total loss of the forage but any preserving of forage will have some loss. Any handling of the forage mowing, raking, chopping, baling, storing, unloading causes some loss in addition to biological losses.
Forage managers will wisely learn to keep losses at a minimum by utilizing good management practices. Much of the losses are of high nutritional value since leaves are easily broken. Knowing what happens inside the silo can help managers make better decisions. There are three main players at work within the silo. Plants are undergoing changes, microbes are busy at work, and chemicals are reacting. Plant processes include initial respiration, cell breakdown lysis , protein breakdown proteolysis , and carbohydrate degradation to sugars.
Microbial players include yeasts, molds, acetic acid bacteria, and bacilli with lactic acid bacteria and clostridia as the principal anaerobes. Chemically, there are browning reactions and acid hydrolysis of hemicellulose. Forage crops are best preserved within an oxygen-free anaerobic environment with a low pH 5.
The oxygen-free environment stops the growth of molds and yeasts, prevents the respiration of plant material, and promotes the growth of lactic acid bacteria. The lactic acid is needed to ferment sugars in the crop which produce lactic, acetic, and other acids. The acids lower the pH which prevents the growth of undesirable anaerobic bacteria and inhibits plant enzymes that break down proteins which is good for maintaining feed value.
The forage inside the silo goes through four stages: pre-seal, active fermentation, stable phase and feedout. Pre-seal describes the filling of the silo when oxygen is available and actively affecting the plants. This is a period of heavy losses in nutritive value of the forage crop.
So filling should be done quickly and air should be pushed out with compaction. Once the silo is filled, the remaining oxygen is quickly used up and active fermentation begins.
This week period sees growth of lactic acid bacteria and the lowering of pH. Determine limitations to forage selection. Forage selection requires an understanding of species and cultivars. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of selecting mixtures. A model for forage selection Summary Exam References Establishment Overview Pre-Test Instructional Objectives Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of pasture establishment Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of pasture renovation.
Discuss the steps in seedbed preparation. Discuss the considerations of seed quality. Discuss the methods and timing of seeding.
Discuss the purpose and wise utilization of companion crops. Instructional Objectives Explain why producers and the public should be concerned about weeds. Describe several ways in which weeds cause forage crop and animal production losses. Describe methods in determining quality List several poisonous plants found on croplands, pasturelands, rangelands, and forests.
Describe the five general categories of weed control methods. Describe the concept of Integrated Pest Management and how it applies to weed control.
Distinguish between selective and non-selective herbicides and give an example of each. Describe how weeds are categorized by life cycle and how this is correlated with specific control methods. Describe conditions that tend to favor weed problems in pastures and describe how to alleviate these conditions.
Describe several common weed control practices in alfalfa production. List printed and electronic sources of weed control information. List local, regional, and national sources of weed control information. Describe the impact of defoliation on grass plants. Discuss how grasses regrow. Discuss how livestock interaction impacts grass growth. Discuss grass growth in mixed stands. Discuss the practical applications of regrowth mechanisms. References Fertilization Overview Pre-Test Instructional Objectives Discuss the importance of soil fertility and the appropriate use of fertilization.
Define and discuss the nitrogen cycle. Discuss the major elements needed for good soil fertility and plant growth. Define and discuss micronutrients. For the horse owner, the onset of fall weather can signal the start of the search for storable forage before winter begins. Considerations such as forage type and storage form, nutritional content, palatability, and cost all become important.
Horses are classified as non-ruminant herbivores. They are adapted to eating plant fibre or forage sources such as pasture, or preserved forages such as hay, haylage or silage. Horses can utilize fibrous plant material very successfully through the hydrolyzation of simple carbohydrates and other nutrients in the stomach or foregut, and the fermentation by microbes of complex carbohydrate sources in the uniquely adapted hind gut.
The energy derived from fibrous plant material is generated as a result of the fermentation of carbohydrates like cellulose by the natural microbes living in the hind gut of a horse.
Fermentation of these carbohydrates results in short chain fatty acids called volatile fatty acids VFA. They are utilized by the horse as an excellent source of safe energy. Horse are happiest when they can browse or forage for food for at least 10 to 15 hours per day. In summer, this can easily be provided through the feeding of fresh forages in the form of pasture.
Weather prohibits the utilization of pasture as a forage source for a large part of the year in Canada. Canadian horse owners have a yearly objective of sourcing quality stored forage for our horses to consume in the coming winter months.
There are few things more satisfying for the horse owner than a successful search for winter feed that results in a barn full of good hay! Forages for horses are most commonly preserved for storage in the form of hay, haylage, or silage. The first step in preparing any kind of forage for preservation is the cutting and the subsequent wilting of the grass by the sun and air as it lies in the field. As forage is wilted the moisture level drops and the dry matter percent goes up.
The amount of moisture present in the forage when baled will dictate whether the feed is stored as hay or ensiled as haylage or silage. The first step in preparing forage for preservation is cutting it and allowing it to dry by the sun and air as it lies in the field. When baled, the amount of moisture in the forage will determine whether it is stored as hay, or ensiled as haylage or silage.
Photo: Robin Duncan Photography. Fresh grass when cut generally has a moisture content of at least 80 percent resulting in a dry matter value or DM of 20 percent or less. Cut forage intended for hay must be allowed to dry in the field to a moisture level of not more than about 12 percent 88 percent DM.
Hay that is baled with a moisture level in excess of 12 percent will result in bales that are heavy, and at risk of mould and heating. Heating can happen because the presence of sufficient water in the forage allows metabolic activity to continue, resulting in heat accumulation within the bale. The heat can get so high that spontaneous combustion and barn fires are the potential outcome. Always strive to buy hay for horses that is not more than approximately 12 percent moisture.
Ensiling forages is a practice where wilted or fresh cut grass is packed into an anaerobic environment. Anaerobic refers to an environment where no oxygen is present. The ensiling process allows the natural microbes on the grass to ferment the natural sugars in the grass water soluble carbohydrates or WSC to organic acids such as lactic acid or acetic acid. As the acids accumulate in the packed forage the pH drops, eventually arriving at a point where no more microbial activity can happen.
This process generally takes about 21 days to complete. When the pH stops dropping, the ensiled feed is considered stable and ready for storage. In order to exclude the air from forages intended for ensiling, the bales are generally wrapped in plastic. Each bale is like a mini silo and has its own fermentation process. The quality of the forage that comes out of the bale is determined by the quality of the forage that went into the bale and the completeness of the ensiling process that was allowed to happen.
Silage: Grass is cut and tightly packed to induce microbial activity. Silage: Bales are covered with plastic wraps. Silage: Partially digested; easy to digest by the animal. Therefore, the main difference between hay and silage is the moisture content. Figure 1: Baled Hay. Figure 2: Silage. View all posts. Leave a Reply Cancel reply.
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