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Comparisons of Unsealed and Plastic Sealed Silages for Preservation Efficiency and Feeding Value

Dairy Cattle Research Branch, Animal Husbandry Research Division

J. R. McCalmont

Agricultural Engineering Research Division USDA, Beltsville, Maryland

ABSTRACT

Hay-crop silage was made in bunker silos with and without a seal, in each of two successive years. The marked reduction in losses of liquid and gaseous dry matter by use of a weighted plastic seal showed it to be an excellent investment. However, reduction of visible spoilage losses by sealing was so little that the procedure would appear uneconomical on this basis alone. In addition to preserving more silage, sealing resulted in a silage which when fed to dairy cows was consumed in significantly greater amounts than unsealed silage. Milk production was higher and liveweight losses less when the sealed silage ration was fed. Temperatures in unsealed bunker silage reached a higher peak at a later date than in sealed silage. Neither chemical analysis nor digestibility coefficients indicated a consistent superiority of sealed silage in these respects. Results from sealed stack silage included in one experiment showed this storage method to be no more satisfactory than the use of sealed bunkers.