Do you want to know Why is Silage good for cows? Cows are often fed Silage to help them grow and stay healthy. Silage is a type of food made by chopping up green plants like corn, grasses, or hay into smaller pieces to be stored for later use. It’s essential to know the benefits of feeding cows silage because it helps keep them happy and strong!
The main reason why cows love being fed Silage is that it tastes good! Cows have an excellent sense of taste which causes them to enjoy eating this nutritious food. Another benefit of feeding cows with Silage
is that it makes their milk richer in protein, sugars, minerals, vitamins, enzymes, and energy. These nutrients are beneficial for developing calves’ bones and teeth.
Why is Silage good for cows: 10 reasons
Have you ever wondered what cows eat? The truth is, they eat grass. But how do they get the energy to grow strong and healthy? Silage is an excellent way for them to get that extra boost of nutrients. It’s also an excellent source of food for cattle during winter months when pasture grasses are scarce.
Hay can be made from plant material: cornstalks, hay, leaves and even cereal grains like wheat or oats. Anything that will ferment can become Silage! It breaks down into sugars and acids during fermentation, creating lactic acid bacteria-a natural preservative that prevents spoilage by inhibiting other microorganisms such as mould and yeast from growing on the product surface.
How is Silage Made?
Silo or Silage (from Latin: slum ) is the fodder that has been fermented and preserved for use as animal feed. It is made by mixing corn, grasses, or cereal grains with the edible parts of plants such as roots, leaves, stalks and green stems.
The mixture is then packed into a container and stored in a silo or bunker or fed directly to cattle. The fermentation process preserves the feedstuff while reducing its nutritional value and potentially elevating toxicity (especially deoxynivalenol and zearalenone).
Silage is fermented and preserved by natural lactic acid fermentation, which converts sugars present in the feed to lactic acid. The fermentation process starts within hours after the materials have been chopped and shredded.
At this early stage, it is sometimes called “sweet silage”. Fermentation proceeds more rapidly when the Silage temperature is between 18 and 24 degrees Celsius (64 and 75degrees Fahrenheit); however, fermentation.
Here are 10reasons of Silage good for the cow
1. Helps cattle gain weight
Just like us, if we eat healthy and nutritious foods, we can grow strong and stay healthy! Food with a lot of sugar and starch makes cows put on weight quickly, which helps them produce more milk. But food with a lot of fibre has less digestible energy. This is why it’s essential to balance their food intake with the proper amount of nutrients and energy.
2. Easy way to keep grass out of cow’s stomachs
You may have noticed that cows leave a trail of green behind them wherever they go, which means it goes in one end and comes out the other! One reason for this is that it’s not always chewed up well enough to be adequately digested when eating grass. It gets trapped in their stomachs which causes gas and bloating.
3. Helps increase available nutrients for other cows
Cows are communal animals so that they can share food! This makes it easier because the older cows have the advantage of eating what they want first. This leaves more food for the younger ones to consume, which helps them grow more robust and better produce milk.
4. Saves time and money
Feeding silage is much faster than feeding hay or grass. Chopping up plants like corn or alfalfa takes only a few minutes compared to cutting up grass that can take hours! Also, cows don’t have to stop eating during the winter months when pasture grasses are scarce because they can graze on stored Silage until the new plant material is available.
5. Helps cows digest food faster
Cows have four-compartment stomachs which work together with saliva and bacteria to break down food. The first compartment is the rumen, which holds large amounts of bacteria to help break down roughage like hay or grass into energy cows can use more easily. When feeding cows with Silage, all that fermenting material does some of the work for them!
6. Helps cows produce higher quality milk
Cows need to eat roughage like hay or grass to digest correctly. They also need it for exercise, which keeps their bones strong and healthy! But when cows are fed with Silage, not only do they get the benefit of more energy, but they don’t need as much roughage. This allows them to produce higher quality milk which is essential for good cheese and yoghurt production.
7. Helps cows have more energy for work
Do you ever feel tired even after a good night’s sleep? Cows are the same way! They need at least 8 hours of sleep each day to feel rested and energized. Otherwise, they can become easily stressed out. Just like us, if we’re tired, our bodies don’t function properly.
8. Helps cows have less stress during bad weather conditions
Bad weather conditions like thunderstorms or heavy rainfall can be scary for animals because they are more sensitive to noise, making it harder to concentrate on eating. Hay provides a good energy source, so they don’t have time to worry about loud noises if they are busy eating. Plus, cows can better digest their food, so the energy is used up quickly instead of wasting stress.
9. Makes cows happier
Cows can show us how they’re feeling by the way they act and react to certain things! They often become more excited when their e is more food available, especially if they are fed in a separate area away from other cows. Every animal needs to feel special and enjoy their time with its caretakers, which makes them happier!
10. Helps keep cows healthy for longer
Cows face many different types of problems each year. One common issue is lameness because it’s hard for cows to move around well when tired or hurt. This often leads to weight loss and other problems contributing to the cow’s overall well-being and health.
How much net energy is in Silage?
There are different types of Silage depending on the plant material used to make it. Hay can be made from corn stalks, corn cobs, sorghum, soybeans or barley, which determines how much net energy is available for cows after they eat it.
- Corn silage has about 7 MJ of potential net energy per kg (roughly 15% less than corn grain).
- Sorghum silage has about 8 MJ potential net energy per kg (roughly 17% less than sorghum grain).
- Barley silage has about 6.5 MJ of potential net energy per kg (roughly 12% less than barley grain).
- Soybean silage has about 7.5 MJ potential net energy per kg (roughly 23% less than soybean meal).
Conclusion
It is essential to know how cows are fed, as this has a significant impact on their health and your milk production. Hay is the most common feed for cattle in Ireland; it’s cheap and easy to store. What makes Silage so good for cows? It provides nutrients that help keep them healthy while being high in fibre which aids digestion. Contact us today if you have any questions about why we use or recommend Silage for our livestock. Thank you for reading this article.
