Question:
"We have a customer, who for a number of reasons has just started chopping corn for silage. The silage is being bagged, is processed well, has good chop length, however it is 45 – 48% dry matter. Because of the economic situation he refuses to use an inoculant. He will not need to start feeding this until about mid-November. What fermentation problems might we expect?"
Answer:
At that DM level there are a number of issues:
- The material will not compact readily, there will be more air entrained in the material at ensiling and so increased aerobic challenge. I don't think you can achieve a high enough packing density with a bag for me to be comfortable about putting this stuff in one. The fermentation will be slow, because of the amount of air entrained, so there will be DM losses and chances for not so nice bugs to grow.
- That will also become an issue at feedout: air will suck back into the face more readily.
- At that high DM, the fermentation will of course be restricted, so there will be a lot less fermentation acids formed. This in itself will lower the overall preservation status of the material.
- This must be overly mature and/ or stressed material, so we can expect there will be higher levels of yeasts and molds, increasing the aerobic challenge further still. He will be feeding from November on, which will help, but there will be heat generated from within and I would be surprised if he does not see some stability issues and spoilage.
- Also need to beware of potential for mycotoxins. If he starts to feed this stuff and production is not where expected based on the true (analyzed) quality of the finished silage, try putting a good binder (a bentonite plus a MOS: both should have data showing they work, my definition of "good") and see if there is a response (need to give the binder 30 days).
- Even though the stuff has been processed, the starch digestibility could be an issue. This will increase during storage, so starch digestibility should be checked at least once a month and the ration adjusted accordingly. NDFD will also increase during storage, so check that out too.
Best regards,
The Silage Doctor
Question:
“Is it OK if the color of the inoculant solution went from green to blue over the course of a day?”
Answer:
Yes. The green color of the inoculant is derived from blue dye and yellow dye. The inoculant bacteria remove the yellow dye over time. We do not know if they use it as a food source, take it into the cells without breaking it down at all, break it down extracellularly, or if it is just absorbed onto the cells. Whichever it is, there is no detrimental effect on product viability. The solution just progressively turns blue.
Best regards,
The Silage Doctor
Question:
“Can you give an explanation as to the rust/orange gases escaping the bagged corn silage. Is this fairly common? Is this simply a situation where the gasses are very concentrated from the small leak in the silage bag? Aren’t silo gasses all colorless?”
Answer:
Carbon dioxide is colorless. However, nitrogen dioxide has the orange color (and is lethal). This is a highly toxic gas, needs to be vented and dissipated safely. Nitrogen dioxide is usually only a problem if the crop was high in nitrates (e.g. drought stressed material).
Best regards,
The Silage Doctor
