Maize silage have got overnight popularity among Indian Dairy Farmers.
Maize silage is having its own list of benefits. Dairy animal also loves to have fermented fodder in their total mix ration.
Silage pressing is required to create anaerobic condition in the silage. as per standard bulk density of silage should be 750 to 800 kg per meter cube silage pit. lesser the pressing higher the chance of fungus growth. higher the pressing better chance of desired fermentation.
Best quality pressing can be achieved easily if the moisture content of green fodder is between 65% to 70%.
If your fodder will be dry it will not be possible to achieve good compaction. similarly if moisture will be higher than 70% spoilage and fungal growth will be very high.
5. Covering of Silage.
After completing all above mention steps it comes to covering of the silage pits. it looks simple job but there are few points which need to be kept in mind.
(a). Try to use white plastic sheet. it will reduce moisture loss compare the black plastic. many study have prove that in silage covered with white plastic have lesser temperature than the silage covered with black plastic. and higher the temperature higher the chance of air going inside silage and it will increase spoilage of silage.
(b). Covers your silage on bottom as well as on sides. to ensure maximum anaerobic condition.
(c). Layering of silage should be even so any kind of rain water logging does not happens on the pits
(d). Weight on silage covers are kept evenly on the whole surface of the silage pit. on the joints of plastic try to over lap at-least 1.5 m plastic on each other. For weight you can used cut tyre sides, sand filled bags
These are few point in the art of making silage. few more points are there such as use of inoculations, molasses spray, mixing potato to increase starch, which can be discussed in separate blog.
Maize silage is having its own list of benefits. Dairy animal also loves to have fermented fodder in their total mix ration.
With changing dairy farming practices in India it is not possible to feed consistent fresh green fodder to dairy animals throughout the year.
Green fodder is very good for the dairy Animals but to get consistent dry matter in green fodder throughout the year is very difficult. Due to that silage becomes unavoidable option for dairy farmers. that's why more and more farmers are selecting silage as their main source for fodder.
As we all know silage is basically anaerobically fermented green fodder. And fermentation is not that easy to do on large scale.
To Ensure best quality silage & minimum wastage following points to kept in check.
1. Correct time of Harvesting.
Generally in India harvesting of fodder depends on the labor or the availability of forage harvester. Unfortunately in India forage harvester are not available on contract basis. also Indina Fields are not suitable for large forage harvester, small forage harvester are also not being manufactured in India.
So at the time of harvesting following points to keep in check
(a) Harvest your maize between 100 to 120 days from Sowing date.
(b) Do not remove corn cobs form the forage.
(c) Cobs should have milk line as shown in the image (A)
(d) Moisture content in maize at the time of harvesting must not be more than 70%.
 |
| Image (A) Milk Line in Corn Cob |
Generally in India harvesting of fodder depends on the labor or the availability of forage harvester. Unfortunately in India forage harvester are not available on contract basis. also Indina Fields are not suitable for large forage harvester, small forage harvester are also not being manufactured in India.
So at the time of harvesting following points to keep in check
(a) Harvest your maize between 100 to 120 days from Sowing date.
(b) Do not remove corn cobs form the forage.
(c) Cobs should have milk line as shown in the image (A)
(d) Moisture content in maize at the time of harvesting must not be more than 70%.
2. Correct Chop Size.
Chop size of forage is one of most important in silage making process.size of chop should be between 2 inch to 4 inch homogeneous through out the silage pit. irregular chopping of forage can leads to improper fermentation of the silage pits and can also promote growth of fungus due to less compaction.
 | |||
| Image (B) |
3. Silage Pit size.
Size of Silage making pit and your harvesting capacity are directly proportional to each other.
So lets put it this way
(a) If you can mange to harvest, chop & press 100 MT in 1 day than your pit size need to be 300 MT
or
(b) If you have Pit capacity of 600 MT then you have to harvest, chop & press 200 MT silage per day.
so point is any silage pits need to be filled in maximum 3 days.
In India many time I have seen farmer are filling 1 pit our period of 15 days and when they open the silage it have very odd smell and very high amount of fungus growth in the whole silage pit.
So lets put it this way
(a) If you can mange to harvest, chop & press 100 MT in 1 day than your pit size need to be 300 MT
or
(b) If you have Pit capacity of 600 MT then you have to harvest, chop & press 200 MT silage per day.
so point is any silage pits need to be filled in maximum 3 days.
In India many time I have seen farmer are filling 1 pit our period of 15 days and when they open the silage it have very odd smell and very high amount of fungus growth in the whole silage pit.
4. Silage Pressing.
 |
| Image C |
Silage pressing is required to create anaerobic condition in the silage. as per standard bulk density of silage should be 750 to 800 kg per meter cube silage pit. lesser the pressing higher the chance of fungus growth. higher the pressing better chance of desired fermentation.
Best quality pressing can be achieved easily if the moisture content of green fodder is between 65% to 70%.
If your fodder will be dry it will not be possible to achieve good compaction. similarly if moisture will be higher than 70% spoilage and fungal growth will be very high.
5. Covering of Silage.
 |
| Image D |
After completing all above mention steps it comes to covering of the silage pits. it looks simple job but there are few points which need to be kept in mind.
(a). Try to use white plastic sheet. it will reduce moisture loss compare the black plastic. many study have prove that in silage covered with white plastic have lesser temperature than the silage covered with black plastic. and higher the temperature higher the chance of air going inside silage and it will increase spoilage of silage.
(b). Covers your silage on bottom as well as on sides. to ensure maximum anaerobic condition.
(c). Layering of silage should be even so any kind of rain water logging does not happens on the pits
(d). Weight on silage covers are kept evenly on the whole surface of the silage pit. on the joints of plastic try to over lap at-least 1.5 m plastic on each other. For weight you can used cut tyre sides, sand filled bags
These are few point in the art of making silage. few more points are there such as use of inoculations, molasses spray, mixing potato to increase starch, which can be discussed in separate blog.
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