Silage production and utilisation: Proceedings of the XIVth International Silage Conference, a satellite workshop of the XXth International Grassland Congress, July 2005, Belfast, Northern Ireland

289 Pages·2005·2.248 MB·English

by  R.S. Park, M.D. Stronge

Silage production and
utilisation
edited by:
R.S. Park
M.D. Stronge
Silage production and utilisation

Silage production and
utilisation
Proceedings of the XIVth International Silage Conference,
a satellite workshop of the XXth International Grassland
Congress, July 2005, Belfast, Northern Ireland
edited by:
R.S. Park
M.D. Stronge
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All rights reserved.
Nothing from this publi cation may be
repro duced, stored in a computerised
Subject headings: system or published in any form or in any
Grass ensiling manner, including electronic, mechanical,
Silage microbiology reprographic or photographic, without prior
Ruminant production written permission from the publisher,
Wageningen Academic Publishers,
P.O. Box 220, NL-6700 AE Wageningen,
ISBN: 978-90-76998-75-6 The Netherlands.
e-ISBN: 978-90-8686-553-6
DOI: 10.3920/978-90-8686-553-6 The individual contributions in this
publication and any liabilities arising from
them remain the responsibility of the
First published, 2005 authors.
The publisher is not responsible for possible
© Wageningen Academic Publishers damages, which could be a result of content
The Netherlands, 2005 derived from this publication.
Organising Committee

Dr C S Mayne, Chairperson, ARINI/DARDNI Dr T W J Keady, ARINI/DARDNI
Dr R E Agnew, ARINI/DARDNI Dr P O’Kiely, Teagasc
Dr A F Carson, ARINI/DARDNI Dr A Wylie, DARDNI
Dr R C Binnie, ARINI R S Park, DARDNI
Dr P J Frost, ARINI/DARDNI M G Porter, ARINI

Reviewers

Dr C S Mayne Dr T W J Keady Dr C Thomas
Dr R E Agnew Dr R J Merry Dr A R G Wylie
Dr R C Binnie Dr C Ohlsson Dr T Yan
Dr A F Carson Dr P O’Kiely R S Park
Dr J P Frost Dr D C Patterson M G Porter

Main Sponsors of the XIV International Silage Conference

Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for Northern Ireland (www.dardni.co.uk)

ALLTECH (www.alltech.com)

LALLEMAND (www.lallemand.com)

Foreword

This book presents the proceedings of the XIV International Silage Conference, a Satellite
Workshop of the XX International Grassland Congress, held in Belfast, Northern Ireland from
3-6 July 2005. This Workshop was one of five satellite meetings held immediately after the
main Congress, designed to enable in depth presentation and discussion on current practices
and the science underpinning silage production and utilisation.

A total of 122 papers are included in these proceedings, presented in five main sections. The
first section examined the effects of conserved feeds on milk and meat production. Papers
addressed topics from effects of harvesting system, chop length and additive use on intake
and animal performance through to effects of silage quality and supplementation on meat
quality, milk conjugated linoleic content and microbiological quality of milk.

The increasing interest in ensiling “alternative forage” crops was highlighted in Section 2
with a number of papers examining effects of conserving wheat, forage maize, legumes,
sorghum and Lotus species on the resulting forage composition and animal performance.
New developments in ensiling techniques were considered in Section 3, including reviews of
recent advances in big bale silage production and techniques to improve silage fermentation,
aerobic stability and ultimately nutritive value of silages.

Section 4 examined challenges and new developments in the ensilage of tropical forages,
ranging from tropical grasses to whole crop rice and sugar cane. The final section included a
large number of papers on the chemical and biological characteristics of silages and in
particular the use of near infrared spectroscopy to predict intake potential and nutritive value
of conserved forage.

This is an important reference book, which provides an excellent overview of current
developments in forage conservation and utilisation of conserved forage in animal production
systems.
Silage production and utilisation 7

Table of contents

Foreword 7
Keynote presentations 17
An overview of silage production and utilisation in Ireland (1950-2005) 19
C.S. Mayne and P. O’Kiely
Grass silage: factors affecting efficiency of N utilisation in milk production 35
P. Huhtanen and K.J. Shingfield
Recent developments in feeding beef cattle on grass silage-based diets 51
M. McGee
Ensiled maize and whole crop wheat forages for beef and dairy cattle: effects on animal performance 65
T.W.J. Keady
Update on technologies for producing and feeding silage 83
P.D. Forristal and P. O’Kiely
Silage production from tropical forages 97
L.G. Nussio
Recent developments in methods to characterise the chemical and biological parameters of grass silage 109
R.S. Park, R.E. Agnew and M.G. Porter
Advances in silage quality in the 21st Century 121
D.R. Davies, M.K. Theodorou, A.H. Kingston-Smith and R.J. Merry
Section 1: A. Effect of conserved feeds on milk production 135
The effect of grass silage chop length on dairy cow performance 137
Å.T. Randby
Whole crop silage from barley fed in combination with red clover silage to dairy cows 138
J. Bertilsson and M. Knicky
Responses to grass or red clover silages cut at two stages of growth in dairy cows 139
A. Vanhatalo, K. Kuoppala, S. Ahvenjärvi and M. Rinne
The effect of chop length and additive on silage intake and milk production in cows 140
V. Toivonen and T. Heikkilä
Effect of supplementing grass silage with incremental levels of water soluble carbohydrate on in vitro
rumen microbial growth and N use efficiency 141
D.R. Davies, D.K. Leemans and R.J. Merry
Effects of access time to feed and sodium bicarbonate in cows given different silages 142
T. Heikkilä and V. Toivonen
Dairy cow performance associated with two contrasting silage feeding systems 143
C.P. Ferris, D.C. Patterson, R.C. Binnie and J.P. Frost
Pea-barley bi-crop silage in milk production 144
M. Tuori, P. Pursiainen, A.-R. Leinonen and V. Karp
Conjugated linoleic acid content of milk from cows fed different diets 145
E. Staszak and J. Mikołajczak
Feeding with badly preserved silages and occurrence of subclinical ketosis in dairy cows 146
F. Vicente, B. de la Roza, A. Argamentería, M.L. Rodríguez and M. Peláez
Modelling contamination of raw milk with butyric acid bacteria spores 147
M.M.M. Vissers, F. Driehuis, P. de Jong, M.C. te Giffel and J.M.G. Lankveld
Use of a dairy whole farm nutrient balance education tool to teach the importance of forages in the
context of nutrient management concepts at the whole-farm level 148
J.H. Harrison and T.D. Nennich
Feeding mixed grass-clover silages with elevated sugar contents to dairy cows 149
J. Bertilsson

Silage production and utilisation 9