By Joe Lawrence, PRO-DAIRY

Safety 

• Prepare crew and equipment for a safe field season 

Prepare storage area 

• Flexible storage options to sort forages by quality and intended animal group 

• Size storage to planned feed-out rate 

• Clean and safe storage infrastructure 

Field inventory and harvest mapping 

• How many tons of lactating quality feed do you need? Get that first! 

         o Every field can be lactating quality feed if harvested at the correct time o Window for optimum hay crop quality is narrower than for corn planting 

• Monitor fields for harvest timing starting in early May 

         o CCE and support industry weekly height monitoring programs 

• Target harvest order 

         o Winter Cereals > Perennial Grass > Mixed Grass/Legume > Legumes 

• Spring delays - skip fields already past their optimum, return later for non-lactating quality feed. 

Harvest management 

• Minimize time between cutting and ensiling of crops 

         o Wide swath - >80% of cutter bar width 

         o Avoid excessive windrow size - balance yield with quality potential 

• Maintain a three to four inch cutting height (four inches for grasses) 

         o Reduce contamination (Ash) 

         o Keep windrows up off the ground to facilitate drying 

         o Encourages healthier and vigorous regrowth of perennials 

• Avoid chopping at wrong dry matter - matching mowing to chopping speeds Rake/merge, chop before leaf material is too dry to avoid excess losses 

Ensiling for efficient fermentation and minimal shrink 

• Harvest at target dry matter for storage type 

          o Haylage: ~35-38% DM 

          o Baleage: ~40-55% DM 

• Achieve target densities in horizontal silos 

          o Packing weight to match delivery rate  

                ?-? minimum of 800 lbs. packing weight per ton delivered per hour 

          o Pack uniformly in thin layers (ideal: four-inch layers) 

          o Build piles to pack from any angle, 360 degrees around pile 

          o Minimize silage piled higher than bunk walls - compromises density and safety 

• Cover piles immediately 

          o Use research proven inoculants and oxygen barrier plastic