Increase the NDFD Of Your 2016 Corn Silage Crop with Amaferm
By: Barry Christie, Amaferm Dairy Business Manager
Going into 2016 new crop corn silage can be problematic in a number of ways. Tonnage will be there but NDFD (Neutral Detergent Fiber Digestibility) will be challenged. Higher Tonnage from 2016 warm, wet growing conditions created greater plant size with higher levels of lignin and ether bonds challenging the cow’s ability to break down and utilize the hemicellulose before it passes out of the rumen. The same wet conditions during the growing season lingered into harvest causing a lot of silage to be put up late increasing the dry matter content. Optimal dry matter in corn silage is 35. Each point over that reduces milk potential 100 lbs per ton.
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