Silage testing

Muckit

I'm interested in getting my pit silage tested this year, just to see what the figures are like!

Where can I get it done? Teagasc anyway I suppose? Have lads got them to do it, and how did they rate the service? Any other companies/labs doing it?

What else do they test for, apart from DMD?

Thanks in advance for your help

Muckit

Nutcase

Its always interesting to get silage test results lets you know whats sort of quality it is and whether your doing things right or not. Belows a link to what you might get if you test your silage.
http://www.corbyrock.ie/images/test%20result%201.jpg

dar31

usually get the feed co. that has the meal tender to do it, or teagasc.
have to pay teagasc though, but can usually get it done free from feed co's.
got ours done last week, getting mineral analysis done as well
glanbia usually contract a lad to go around for a few weeks taking silage tests, but i find they leave it to late in the year by the time you get results back.

Muckit

Thanks lads for your help;)

Tora Bora

dar31 wrote: »

usually get the feed co. that has the meal tender to do it, or teagasc.
have to pay teagasc though, but can usually get it done free from feed co's.
got ours done last week, getting mineral analysis done as well
glanbia usually contract a lad to go around for a few weeks taking silage tests, but i find they leave it to late in the year by the time you get results back.

I wouldnt trust my feed supplier to give me a proper result. In their interest to tell you you are low in this, that and the other, .... and oh, by the way, this particular feed or mineral lick we happen to sell, is perfect for balancing up your silage.

Dunedin

Tora Bora wrote: »

I wouldnt trust my feed supplier to give me a proper result. In their interest to tell you you are low in this, that and the other, .... and oh, by the way, this particular feed or mineral lick we happen to sell, is perfect for balancing up your silage.

+1:rolleyes:

Tora Bora

Dunedin wrote: »

+1:rolleyes:

In fact I don't trust the labels in many of the bags of feed we are getting these days. They are either codding us with "toasted" somethin or other in a "cooked" mix and charging a mad price, OR, selling lower price stuff, that looks like 25% sawdust. You would think by reading the lable however, that five bags of the stuff was as good as five acres of the golden vale

dar31

Tora Bora wrote: »

I wouldnt trust my feed supplier to give me a proper result. In their interest to tell you you are low in this, that and the other, .... and oh, by the way, this particular feed or mineral lick we happen to sell, is perfect for balancing up your silage.

the feed companies just send them off to independent labs and get a report back which they pass on to the farmer, no big conspiracy going on.

if you dont trust your feed company, turn to teagasc for advice, then a few on here dont trust them either. personally i always found the lads down the local to have a great wealth of knowledge and advise.

bob charles

Nutcase wrote: »

Its always interesting to get silage test results lets you know whats sort of quality it is and whether your doing things right or not. Belows a link to what you might get if you test your silage.
http://www.corbyrock.ie/images/test%20result%201.jpg

And they report your ME of 11.7 to be only good???

jeff greene

dar31 wrote: »

the feed companies just send them off to independent labs and get a report back which they pass on to the farmer, no big conspiracy going on.

if you dont trust your feed company, turn to teagasc for advice, then a few on here dont trust them either. personally i always found the lads down the local to have a great wealth of knowledge and advise.

Exactly, no conspiracy as the cow will quickly tell you when things are off. To keep mills on their toes I get blends tested too, never once was one glaringly out. I use Agriking for my diets, tests are more indepth with mineral testing too, important in dry cow diets. Really testing should be standard practice I think

Nutcase

bob charles wrote: »

And they report your ME of 11.7 to be only good???

I merely google searched for silage analysis examples to help answer another board members question.
And judging by their method of scoring each element it seems to go from satisfactory to average to good.
They dont seem to use excellent as a way of describing how well an element scored on this example Bob.

bob charles

Nutcase wrote: »

I merely google searched for silage analysis examples to help answer another board members question.
And judging by their method of scoring each element it seems to go from satisfactory to average to good.
They dont seem to use excellent as a way of describing how well an element scored on this example Bob.

and I taugh I was paying you a complement on your silage quality:rolleyes:

dar31

results for first cut in..

dm 22
dmd 75
me 10.8
cp 14.8
ph 3.9
ndf 46
pdin 88
pdie 65

not to bad, wouldnt be jumping around the room about it though

flatout11

the testing for the bulk of the country is done in hillsborough i think fba labs in cork also do it now
what you feeding it to

Muckit

weanlings and yearlings mostly

49801

what are the typical costs of testing forages?

and yes i know it is a small cost with respect to the value of the forage.;)

blue5000

dar31 wrote: »

results for first cut in..

dm 22
dmd 75
me 10.8
cp 14.8
ph 3.9
ndf 46
pdin 88
pdie 65

not to bad, wouldnt be jumping around the room about it though

Thanks for sharing Dar31. What date did you cut and what was closing date? If we had enough results like yours up with the date cut the rest of us would have a fair idea without spending money:cool:

dar31

blue5000 wrote: »

Thanks for sharing Dar31. What date did you cut and what was closing date? If we had enough results like yours up with the date cut the rest of us would have a fair idea without spending money:cool:

cut around the 23th may. closed for 1 st april average, took about 1 week to close it all up. grazed twice in the spring

stanflt

got my silage analysis result yesterday
ist cut was 79.77dmd but only 23%dm 18.7%cp and ph 4
2nd cut 74.13dmd but only 19%dm 15.9%cp and ph 3,9
3rd cut was 78.23dmd and 18.8cp but 19.7dm


couldnt get over quality of 3rd cut-was advised to feed plenty of straw to all animals cause it will just run thru them

LivInt20

stanflt wrote: »

got my silage analysis result yesterday
ist cut was 79.77dmd but only 23%dm 18.7%cp and ph 4
2nd cut 74.13dmd but only 19%dm 15.9%cp and ph 3,9
3rd cut was 78.23dmd and 18.8cp but 19.7dm


couldnt get over quality of 3rd cut-was advised to feed plenty of straw to all animals cause it will just run thru them

How do you go about sampling silage.

Do you just take a sample in a bag and send to the lab.

How much does it cost to test the silage.

Muckit

John Shirley in the Farming Indo this week didn't think much of getting silage tested :rolleyes: He's right in some respects ie it's exactly that, just a sample of the pit/crop of bales. It may or may not represent the entire feed supply for the winter. Also the sample will possibly deteriorate on route to the lab.

He did however say that it may be something worth doing if buying a large quantity of fodder in.

I still think I'I go ahead and get mine sampled once we've well started into feeding out.

jeff greene

Muckit wrote: »

John Shirley in the Farming Indo this week didn't think much of getting silage tested :rolleyes: He's right in some respects ie it's exactly that, just a sample of the pit/crop of bales. It may or may not represent the entire feed supply for the winter. Also the sample will possibly deteriorate on route to the lab.

He did however say that it may be something worth doing if buying a large quantity of fodder in.

I still think I'I go ahead and get mine sampled once we've well started into feeding out.

Tests are relatively cheap enough to do them a few times as you go back through the pit or when you notice a change in either the silage or performance.

Muckit

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/1276/p5100287.jpg