Super silage is a winner (From Western Telegraph)

Super silage is a winner

A Pembrokeshire milk producer who maximises milk production from conserved forage has won a national silage competition, a year after coming a close second.

Darren Callan, who manages Corston Farm, Castlemartin, has won the Federation of Welsh Grassland Societies competition Last year a mere quarter of a mark separated the dairy farmer from the winner in the national silage competition.

There was to be no second place this year - he clinched the competition with a sample of his first-cut silage. Marks were also awarded for silage clamp management and utilisation, effluent control and the general farm appearance.

Darren's silage sample had a DM of 33, ME of 11.7, crude protein of 20 and an ammonia nitrogen level of 6.9.

The winning sample was said to be an 'outstanding example of efficiency in forage and livestock management in a large-scale, high-output dairy herd'

The silage is fed to the 300-cow dairy herd which has average yields of 9,300 litres. The emphasis is on producing top-quality silage, Darren explained. "It's the whole basis of our system,'' he said.

It has an intake potential of 118 and, together with 70 acres of maize silage, is the foundation for annual milk sales - of which 4,270 litres are produced from forage and a purchased-feed cost of 2.5p per litre.

The first cut is harvested in the first week of May before seed heads appear. This means he achieves the highest possible D value and, as a result, the optimum feed value.

He uses Optimise silage additive from Enviro Systems to lower the lactic acid in the silage and enhance the PH value.

"This is what the cow needs to remove any risk of acidosis," said Darren. "We're always on a knife edge as far as acidosis is concerned.''