2.5.2 What is silage?

Silage is now the most commonly preserved cattle and sheep feed in many countries. It is produced by the controlled fermentation of crops with high moisture. Silage is a fermented and stored process which ensilages with forage crops and grasses in a silo (Fig. 5.6.1). The types of silo in which the farmer may choose to ferment their crop are greatly varied. For convenience, commercial silos can be classified into the main categories: stack or clamp without retaining walls, tower, bunker, vacuum, plastic sausage and roll bale. Compared with the hay, the feed intake, digestibility and nutritive value of silage are excellent. Silage can be made of many other by-products of field crops and food, and other materials.

2.5.3 Silage making

Silage originated in ancient Egypt. The silage research on the fermentation mechanism has been made rapid progress in the 20th century. Silage can be prepared from forage crops and grasses at the optimum stage of growth with suitable moisture content, about 50% to 70%. The forage material is collected, chopped into about 10- to 20-mm lengths and packed into silo. Current mechanical forage harvesters are used to collect and chop the forage material, and deposit it in trucks or wagons. These forage harvesters can either be tractor-drawn or self-propelled. Harvesters blow the silage into the wagon via a chute at the rear or a side of the machine. The inoculants of LAB were used for high quality silage making (Fig. 5.6.2).