Talk:Silage
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I should like to know why and when silage replaced haymaking (eg is it to do with the development of plastics?).
The Description of haylage seems to me to be a bit off -- haylage is prepared by cutting grass as if for hay but not letting it dry completely (as is done with hay) but rather after a very short wait to let excess moisture evaporate either ensiling it or baling it in round bales that are then wrapped in plastic (either method promotes anaerobic fermentation).
As far as when silage came into vogue, it certainly was in use in the Pacific Northwest by no later than the nineteen-teens on American dairy farms, and did not involve plastic. Silos (still visible on the rural landscape) were generally built of wood -- my great-grandfather built one in 1912 -- and in the 1960s silage pits of concrete came into vogue. We also made silage "stacks" with plastic underneath that wrapped over the top; the seams could be sealed with plastic pipe (1/2" inside the fold, then a split 3/4" pipe clamped on the outside and then the air sucked out using a pump. This method yielded very high quality silage as there was virtually no rot. 89.178.87.232 10:13, 21 January 2007 (UTC) Allan Mustard 1:10 p.m. Moscow time, January 21, 2007
[edit] Why Silage?
This page is badly in need of a brief introduction on why silage is used. Is it merely a storage issue (i.e. "pickled corn", or "hay-kraut")? Or does it actually improve the digestibility of the forage? (Would cows even eat whole corn plants?) Obviously, as User:GypsyJon mentions, the microbial activity in the ensiling process will use up some part of the energy contained in the feedstock. That does not necessarily mean that it therefore has to reduce the quality of the forage... Patrikd 22:48, 5 September 2006 (UTC)
The ensiling process is pure and simple a way to preserve forages. Corn silage was introduced in the US in the very early 1900's in Wisconsin. Yes, it is viturally a way to pickle forages, without the use of salt, however. Cows will eat whole corn plants, but since the dry matter in corn plants when they are cut to make silage is around 30 to 35%, if not packed tighly into a storage system that prevents 02 from entering, the silage will rot (aerobic) rather than ferment (anaerobic) and not be preserved.
Cows do love corn silage and in the southeast, may dairies feed up to about 60 pounds of corn silage per cow per day. This is a rather high level and can lead to health problems (cronic acidosis) in dairy cows, it is fed this way because other available forages, ie. bermuda grass etc, are very low in energy. That is they are not as digestible as corn silage. In other areas, such as the midwest, northeast, California, etc, various amounts of grass hay, alfalfa hay and haylages are fed. This mitigages the damaging effects of the very high corn silage diets fed in the southeast (Florida, Ga, S.Carolina, Alabama, N.Carolina)
