What is "silage"

[Alice Acres]

Around here we see a lot less than we used too - mostly because there is just less livestock. It's primarily used for cattle (in fact I don't know of any silage around here used for anything but cattle) Both dairies and beef feedlots and beef on pasture get silage. It's chopped corn plants - stalks, ears - everything (harvested before it's totally ripe and still green). Some hay ground is also harvested for silage too. When fresh it's called "green chop" and when it's fermented it's called "silage".
It's very nutritious and cattle love it.

 

[Symphony]

My Cows loooove it and my Horses got their first taste of it this year when they were sharing a pasture and whoa, the Horses loved it too. They love Apples the Horses and Goats but the Cows it depends as some nibble and others don't even pay mind. Some of my Horses like Pears but not all but everyone likes Watermelons. Pumpkins I'm trying this year with the Cows but I know just a handful of my Horses like them.

 

[Harbisgirl]

Thanks for asking - I've been wondering what it was too

 

[chicks & ducks]

Hate to bump up an old thread, but as it was sort of the same topic I thought that was better than starting a new one. Anyway-in regards silage-I think I know the long silage things you guys are talking about but
1)is it possible to get these in 4 or 5 foot round bales? I thought I heard that somewhere...
2)nutritionally is it better than, say, a good quality hay? Worse? The same?

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Hate to bump up an old thread, but as it was sort of the same topic I thought that was better than starting a new one. Anyway-in regards silage-I think I know the long silage things you guys are talking about but
1)is it possible to get these in 4 or 5 foot round bales? I thought I heard that somewhere...

Yep, only this is more or less called "haylage" and it comes in bales wrapped completely in plastic. Round bales only, of course.

2)nutritionally is it better than, say, a good quality hay? Worse? The same?

Nutritionally silage is often always considered better than hay, but only if it's been wrapped and packed properly and cut at the right time. Cut too early, and there's a lot of waste with a lot of water seeping out. Cut too late and the fibre content is high enough that the nutritional content can be equivalent to good hay. If silage is done right, the protein and energy content is higher than with hay (fibre content lower) making it a good feed for animals that need it.

 

[luvmypets]

What is it?

 

[WildRoseBeef]

What is it?

Silage is fermented feed for livestock. It's normally chopped up then packed tightly and stored in an anaerobic (oxygen deprived) environment where it is allowed to ferment for a time before being fed to cattle (or sheep or goats). As I mentioned above, if done properly it's one of the most high-quality feeds that can be fed to livestock.

 

[Bossroo]

Just for a public service notice ... Silage is a GREAT feed for cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and chickens and they eat it with great relish... BUT , I have tried to feed it to my 32 horses as well as several dozen client owned mares that were on my place for breeding ... not a single one would eat it. They would sniff it then snort at it, several tried a nibble, but NADA. I even held back all other feed for 3 geldings for 2 days, and they still would not eat it. Back to alfalfa hay and pasture .

 

[WildRoseBeef]

When we had to train our feeder steers to eat silage it took them about a week before they'd finally go for it with relish. Those horses, Bossroo, would probably be the same if you maybe had it in front of them for at least a week, but silage is still really high nutrient value even for horses; it'd be like feeding too much grain or alfalfa to them.

 

[BrownSheep]

Wonder if it could be the "type" of silage, too. Around here you can get chopped corn silage or hay-lage