Livestock likely to eat more of this year’s low dry matter, wet silage says SAC Consulting

SRUCs A rated labs advise that this winters silage is wetter, lower in dry matter (DM) and higher in energy than last years cuts, which will result in increased intakes

Scotland’s cattle and sheep are likely to eat more of this year’s wetter, lower dry matter (DM), silage. This is the assessment made by Mary Young, Livestock Nutritionist at SAC Consulting – part of Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), based on hundreds of analyses undertaken by SRUC’s Edinburgh-based laboratory.

“Compared with last year, the samples we’ve analysed have been wetter, with a higher metabolisable energy (ME) and slightly lower crude protein,” she explains.

“To put this into perspective, if I fed a 450kg steer the same ration as last year they would only a achieve a growth rate of 0.7kg/day versus 1kg/day on last year’s drier forage; this is due to a lower average dry matter (DM) content of 25% versus 34% last year.”

The samples analysed to date are mainly first cuts from sheep and beef farms all over Scotland. The average metabolisable energy (ME) of all the silages (including pit and bale), is 10.7 MJ kg/DM with an average crude protein of 108g/kg DM (CP). To add complexity to the picture, she adds that: “We’ve also seen extremes of wet and dry samples this year, ranging from 15% to 51% DM.

“While the energy levels, particularly in pit silages, compare favourably with many concentrates, the average crude protein levels have analysed at 11.4% (DM), with some samples lower than 10%.”

For overwintering rations, Ms Young says that it is important that farmers have their silage analysed and subsequently plan a forage budget, because livestock are likely to eat stocks faster.

SRUC’s lab – which also runs ‘white-label’ services for a number of well-known resellers in Scotland - is of the highest standards in the country, having just been classified as one of just 10 A-grade facilities in the UK by the Forage Analysis Assurance group (FAA).

Commenting on the labs, George Caldow head of SRUC Veterinary Services says: “FAA has recently produced a new standard for assessing each labs accuracy for its silage samples.

“Each month every lab receives 10 identical silage samples and analyses each of them using its in house Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy (NIRS) machine which are assessed by the FAA.”