July 7, 2020
Forage
July 7, 2020
Nutritech and Dunstan Nutrition – A Natural Collaboration
With both brands being synonymous with quality, a collaboration between the two companies was a natural fit in the premium equine space. Martin Blampied from Dunstan Nutrition says “through our partnership with Nutritech we can produce the best feeds for the health and well-being of every New Zealand horse from foals to yearlings, racehorses through [...]
October 15, 2017
In a Pickle with High Acetic Acid Silages
The goal of ensiling a forage crop is to conserve as much as possible of the nutrient and dry matter (DM) content in the crop at the time of harvest. Lallemand Animal Nutrition specialists say the ensiling process is actually quite simple: Chopped forage is packed in a pit to exclude the air, lactic acid [...]
September 8, 2017
Nutritional Impacts of the Wet Weather
As we navigate another period of wet weather, there are some key points which we must keep in mind as we head into the new season. When grass gets covered in soil and dirt it leaves deposits of Ash and specific metals which can cause problems. Any pastures that have flooded or had lying water, [...]
March 6, 2017
Silage Inoculants for Maize & Whole Crop Silages
Last month’s article considered principles and techniques for making high quality maize and whole crop silages, including the use of appropriate inoculants. The preference until fairly recently was to rely on homofermentative lactic acid producing bacterial inoculants, due to lactic being a strong acid so aiding rapid fermentation thus lower dry matter losses than untreated [...]
February 1, 2017
Ensiling Maize & Whole Crop Cereals
Silage making is about preserving as much high quality forage as possible, especially when grown on one’s own farm, as it is a major contributor to farm profitability. This starts with harvesting the crop at its optimum quality and yield, retaining as much of it as possible, and feeding it out efficiently by minimising losses [...]
November 1, 2016
Making & Feeding Quality Forage – Return on Investment
It is important to include fixed (land, interest) and variable (seed, fertiliser, sprays) costs in growing and harvesting pasture or crops to properly evaluate cost benefits of using inoculants when preserving forages. Effective lactic acid producing inoculants have been demonstrated, in controlled trials, to reduce dry matter losses by 5->10%, under good ensiling conditions. Inoculant [...]
October 1, 2016
Making & Feeding Quality Forage – Tools
Last month’s article covered some key aspects of the ensiling process. This month will consider some tools to assist in ensuring the best possible preservation. Two of the key principles mentioned last month were, achieving the fastest fermentation to preserve as much forage as possible, and achieving anaerobic conditions by preventing oxygen leaking into the [...]
September 1, 2016
Making & Feeding Quality Forage – Principles
Maximising growth and utilisation of high quality home grown forages is a key component in driving dairy farm profitability, particularly with low milk prices. This includes both grazed and conserved pastures and crops, as dairy farmers will need to feed both to match forage supply with herd requirements. This is the first in a series [...]
August 9, 2016
