Megasile Forage Additives
Over the last 25 years there has been significant improvements in the way that forage is harvested, ensiled and fed. The quality and consistency of silage is an important factor in any dairy or beef enterprises, which can often determine the outcome of a successful winter feeding programme. The quality and quantity of silage available has a direct impact on livestock performance, influencing milk yields in dairy cattle and live weight gains in beef.
Quality silage with high dry matter, crude protein and energy can help ease on farm costs by reducing the need for excessive supplementation over the winter months.
Careful grassland management and crop husbandry is key, and so to is selecting the correct silage additive. The Megasile range offers two variations, each carefully formulated to quickly stabilise Ph levels, ensuring a high-quality silage remains.
Megasile HDM
Specially formulated to achieve a stable fermentation and enhance aerobic stability of all higher dry matter forages (grass, grass/clover mixture, maize and wholecrop silages).
Within these crops there is usually a significant amount of “residual” sugar left in the silage after it has been effectively ensiled.
The issue with these high dry matter silages is that once the clamp is opened, the yeasts and moulds naturally present in the crop at the time of ensiling “wake up”, due to the presence of oxygen and start to ferment the residual sugars in the silage. This fermentation not only wastes nutrients present in the silage, but it heats up the silage making it much less stable after clamp opening. Silage can be seen heating up both in the feed trough and on the face of the clamp. This is aerobic spoilage.
Megasile HDM contains a “Homofermentative” lactic acid producing bacteria to rapidly preserve the nutrients present in the crop, together with a special heterofermenative lactic acid (L. buchneri) which dramatically reduces the occurrence of aerobic spoilage, preserving more nutrients in the silage for longer after feed out. This will also result in reduced clamp losses at the clamp face.
Benefits
- Rapid and sustained pH drop to preserve the nutrients in the silage
- Reduces yeast and mould growth after clamp opening
- Increases aerobic stability – Silage stays palatable for longer after feedout
Application Rate: 1.5g/tonne