How can you harvest the same maize, but get more of it?
So you’ve done the ground-work, grown the crop, paid for it to be harvested and stacked, now what’s in the stack is what you’ve got, right?
Unfortunately what you grow and harvest is not what you get. Once maize silage is in the stack it can lose a little, or it can lose a lot. And this is real, physical silage losses we are talking. Silage that was once there, and now its not.
So where did it go to? Many of the silage losses are invisible – lost as heat, carbon dioxide and other gases. Its generally not the fibre that is disappearing, it’s the high value starches and sugars that are being converted to these less-valuable gases and heat.
Losses can range from 10-30% + . Think about that from a financial perspective. Maize silage that was in the stack for 38c/kgDM would be 42c/kgDM after 10% losses, or nearly 50 c/kgDM if it had 30% losses.
This is not factoring in any animal performance losses that can occur from silages high in yeasts and moulds, fed rejection from palatability issues and consequent animal health problems.
So how can we lose less maize silage? Protecting it with proven, easy to use inoculants from the MAGNIVA® range.
MAGNIVA® Platinum is the latest technology for reducing silage losses, especially in crops like maize silage which are prone to heating at feedout. Cool, stable silage is achieved after 15 days fermentation, and it includes enzymes to help improve fermentation and digestibility of the silage. MAGNIVA® Platinum has been shown to completely dominate the fermentation – this means there is less time for spoilage micro-organisms to generate carbon dioxide or heat, meaning less losses and more maize silage in the stack.
MAGNIVA® Gold is another good option for maize silage which, like MAGNIVA® Platinum, features the fast-starting P.pentosaceous combined with the tried and proven 40788 strain of L.buchneri. These specifically chosen bacteria work together to protect maize silage and retain its nutrient value.
So if you want to keep more of your maize, and improve animal performance when feeding it, get in touch with your local Nutritech Area Manager to discuss which MAGNIVA® inoculant option will best suit you.
¹Ferrero, F., Piano, S., Tobacco, E., Borreani, G. (2018) Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture
²Drouin, P. Tremblay, J Renaud, J. Apper, E. (2020) Microbiology Open.
