Understanding Silage Inoculants
Silage has become a staple component of dairy cow diets virtually year round. Ensuring it is a cost effective feed source is critical. The efficiency of converting silage dollars to milk dollars is a significant contributor to farm profit. Today’s inoculant market has many products on offer. Choosing a quality inoculant is essential to improve feed conversion efficiency.
Multiple research projects in the USA have determined inoculants should supply 100,000 colony forming units (cfu) of initial fermentative bacteria per gram of silage. Research has also revealed cfu counts higher than this did not produce any improvement in fermentation quality. Pasture Gold guarantees a minimum of 100,000 cfu/gm of EU registered bacteria at ensiling. Further, Pasture Gold contains a third bacteria for preservation of silage when exposed to air at feed-out.
The two upfront bacteria recommended from research are L. plantarum and Pediococcus pentosaceus. Pasture Gold contains both these of strains registered under stringent proof trials by EU agriculture regulators. Few inoculants in Australia contain bacteria with EU registration as proof of their effectiveness. The third bacteria is Propionibacterium freudenreichii for the purpose of producing preservative propionic acid in silage. The two upfront bacteria will lower silage pH very rapidly stabilising it and preventing further fermentation from damaging both quality and dry matter.
Bacterial inoculants contain freeze dried bacteria which are activated when in contact with moisture. As live bacteria, stability and survival rates of bacteria are critical to the inoculant’s effectiveness in silage. Again, EU registration requires evidence of product stability. Obviously silage inoculants that do not have EU registered bacteria can, and do, produce a variety of fermentation outcomes as differing bacterial species are common in an unregulated Australian market.
Pasture Gold also contains an enzyme pack (fibre-technology) to increase silage digestibility. The science of enzymes in silage inoculant has now been reproduced in additives for mixer wagons that involve un-inoculated silage or hays and other forages or fibrous ingredients. Enzymes break down indigestible fibre (lignin), converting it to sugars that lactic acid bacteria then convert to lactic acid. Lactic acid is 10 times stronger than other fermentation acids and lowers pH rapidly to stability. This exposes increased digestible fibre to rumen bacteria for nutrient extraction and cow nutrition.
Perhaps the greatest financial return from Pasture Gold is the abundance of lactic acid. Lactic acid is very palatable to cows. This ensures high intakes, but perhaps even more important, very little wastage. Silage wastage at feed-out is by far the greatest cost to silage as a feed in conversion to milk dollars. This wastage is the greater part of what is known as shrinkage. This term relates to tonnes of silage made less tonnes of silage consumed by cows. The difference is ‘shrinkage’ and has a very significant cost. Our October article explains this more fully.
The physical shrinkage seen in bales or stacks is due to poor compaction, leaving air in the silage. Fermentation to stability is an anaerobic (no oxygen) process. The presence of oxygen will allow fermentation to continue unchecked and not achieve stability, consuming dry matter and nutrients.
PASTURE GOLDTM
Bacterial Silage Inoculant
PASTURE GOLD silage inoculant is available in granular form for application via Gandy Granular Applicators, or water soluble form.
PASTURE GOLD contains two EU registered LAB bacteria plus a preservative bacteria and an enzyme pack for increased digestibility..
PASTURE GOLD is available directly from Dairytech Nutrition or at the following Rural Stores
South West Vic Gippsland Northern Vic
Allansford Leongatha Cohuna
Acme Rural Supplies Browns Stockfeeds J & R Cooke Trading P/L
Colac Lang Lang Echuca
The Co-op Colac Larmax Agribarn Kober Ag Intellegence
Noorat Poowong Kyabram
Mt Noorat Farm Supplies Poowong Dairy & Hardware Dunstall Rural Supplies
Simpson Drouin Girgarre
E & RA Parlour & Co Evison Grain & Produce Dunstall Rural Supplies
Terang Yarragon Leitchville
Scanlons Dairy Centre Yarragon Rural Supplies Lipps Leitchville
Terang Coop Tongala
GTS Farm Supplies
Central Highlands
Creswick
Davies & Rose
If there is no rural store stockist near you, call Dairytech Nutrition 0400 991 814
For information and supply of
PASTURE GOLD and GANDY APPLICATORS
call Dairytech Nutrition 0400 991 814
