Advice for dairy farmers: Strategic baling can almost replace topping
Baled silage has a very useful role to play in management of grass, where surplus areas can be taken out to maintain grass quality.
Practiced strategically, baling can almost eliminate the necessity for topping.
These bales are generally of very high quality and can be fed back into the system when necessary during periods of scarcity.
Sudden bursts of growth often results in surpluses of grass for grazing. This provides an opportunity to harvest a substantial amount of bales which can make up for deficits of silage on farms and can enable big savings in concentrate feeding.
The average DMD of Irish silage is about 67% (it varies from 58% to 80%). There is therefore a lot of silage on farms not even capable of maintaining animals, but a supply of high-DMD bales will be a great asset.
During the quota years, many herds had very long dry periods and average type silage (67%) may have been adequate. But in the new situation, dry cows, in-calf heifers, and yearlings require adequate 71-73% DMD silage. Otherwise they will need a lot of supplementation.
Baling high-quality, high dry matter material rather than bulky low quality grass reduces the cost, which is relatively high for heavy crops, mainly because of the high use of plastic.
Baling may be also the best option for light second cuts, and for farmers who have poor holding facilities, who make relatively small quantities of silage, or have ground that is not suitable for big heavy machinery.
