The use of specialised inoculant has helped preserve quality silage for Western District agricultural contractors GS Rethus and Son, based in Heywood, Victoria.
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Working mainly with bulk silage for the dairy industry, with conserved spring silage being a key option to feed cows across many months of the year, Daniel Rethus said a major part of producing quality silage was providing the stack with the right bacteria to ensure the ensiling process went well.
“The big thing that we work on is that we use inoculant. It stops the stuff from heating up, especially if they are feeding off the face of the stack,” he said.
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Mr Rethus said they relied on Pioneer brand 1127 and Pioneer brand 11G22 as their spring silage inoculants and have had excellent results over many seasons. Both inoculants contain pasture-specific bacteria and are designed to improve dry matter recovery and improve protein quality.
“It helps with the fermentation of the product,” Mr Rethus said.
“It basically speeds the process up but it cools it off quicker so it doesn't burn all the protein and energy out of the product.”
“We always consider how big the face of the stack is and how quick they can feed the face of the stack off. If they have got a really wide face on their silage stack and they're not feeding it all off in time it gives it time to heat up. Then we might push them onto 11G22 that has got the buchneri in it which seems to work well.”
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