Compliments of Nutrition Department

The University of Wisconsin-Madison in cooperation with the USDA Dairy Forage Research Center in Prairie-du-Sac, Wisconsin conducted this lactation trial. Two Mycogen hybrids (TMF108 and TMF2662) were chopped at 62% moisture and a theoretical cut length of 3/8 to 3/4 inch. Silages were stored in upright stave silos. The longer cut silage was rolled through a processor mounted on the forage harvester with roller spacing of about 1 mm. Control and processed silages had similar particle size distribution. Sixty-four early lactation Holstein cows were assigned to four ration treatments for a period of 120 days. Rations consisted of 37.5% corn silage, 26% high moisture shelled corn, 12.5% alfalfa silage, 11.6% roasted soybeans, 5.6% soybean meal, 2.9% soybean hulls, 0.9% blood meal, and 3% supplement. The only difference among the four diets was the type of silage: control TMF108, processed TMF108, control TMF2662, or processed TMF2662.

In this study, cows fed rations containing control or processed TMF2662 silage produced similar amounts of fat-corrected milk (FCM). Cows fed processed TMF108 silage produced more milk than cows fed control TMF108 silage. Cows fed processed TMF108 silage had the highest milk production. Control TMF108 silage resulted in the lowest milk fat test. Body weight change was not affected by processing or hybrid treatment. The amount of grain in these diets was higher than we would recommend when feeding TMF silages, however, it was necessary to find out if any health effects would be apparent from feeding these high grain diets. Authors observed low milk fat test in all diets, which could be an indication of subclinical acidosis, but could not detect any obvious cow health problems during the experiment.

In conclusion, results from this study demonstrated a benefit from processing TMF108 silage, but there was no obvious advantage in processing TMF2662 silage. It could also be concluded that it is not necessary to remove the processor from the chopper when harvesting TMF silage hybrids.

Milk Production