Week 4

Roughages

High-moisture forages – Haylage

Text Transcript

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• Low-moisture forage
• 40-60% moisture
• Production (in brief)
• Cut
• Wilted to 50-70%
• Varies with period of time to ensile
• Chopped
• Ensiled
• Legumes, grasses, and forage grains
• Given properly harvested, wilted, chopped, packed, and stored, palatable, high-quality feedstuff
• Feeding
• Beef and dairy cattle
• Anaerobic environment required for effective fermentation and production of high-quality ensiled forage
• Production process similar, therefore management of production and feed-out, in many ways, similar to silage
• Haylage
• Lower moisture content than higher moisture silages
• More difficult to establish and maintain optimal conditions
• Production
• Cutting
• Quality influenced by stage of maturity at harvest
• Wilting
• Moisture content of 50-70%
• Nutritional value influenced by weather conditions and time required
• Chopping and ensiling
• Chop length: ¼”
• Filled quickly, continuously
• Packed firmly
• Optimal in upright and oxygen-limiting
• Also bags
• Addition of additives
• Addition and compaction of layer of 65-70% moisture forage
• Aids in anaerobic conditions
• Covered
• Feed-out management required
• Advantages
• Compared to hay
• Reduced risk of weather and associated losses
• Reduced leaf loss with curing, packaging, and feeding
• Compared to higher moisture ensiled feeds
• Reduced storage losses
• Reduced quantities of frozen feed
• Disadvantages
• Compared to hay
• Increased storage losses
• Decreased marketability
• Decreased digestibility of nutrients
• Compared to higher moisture ensiled feeds
• Increased field losses
• Increased potential for storage losses
• Production of various forms forage
• Pasture, greenchop, silage, haylage, etc.
• Initial step for high-quality
• Harvest at optimal stage of maturity
• Compromise between yield and nutritional value
• Maximizes yield of digestible nutrients per unit of land
• Effective post-harvest management cannot increase nutritional value of low-quality forage
• Ineffective post-harvest management can decrease nutritional value of high-quality forage
• Some factors influencing method of harvest
• Animal requirements
• Schedule of forage availability
• Environmental conditions
• Availability of labor, equipment, and facilities
• Figure 7-15 on page 148 of text – Estimated total field, harvest, and storage losses when legume-grass forages harvested at various moisture levels and by alternative harvesting methods
• Figure 7-22 on page 149 of text – Summary of harvesting methods for alfalfa