Farm Tidbits- Silage Week

May 26, 2023

It’s one of our favorite weeks of the year- silage week! We’ve been grazing our beloved ryegrass all winter and in March & April we have moved the cows onto their summer grass pastures.

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So, in the last 2 months the ryegrass has put on tremendous growth. We started Monday cutting the grass into windrows, giving it a few hours to dry to about 60% moisture and then we use our chopper to cut it into 1” long pieces and pack it into our silage pit. Just a big pile of grass clippings.

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We will cover it with plastic to keep it airtight and the wet grass will ferment to make delicious cow feed.  

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Seeing so much above ground growth ensures there is also a crazy amount of root growth to build organic matter. We are following the chopper with a no-till corn planter so the fields will have 1-3 days without a weather appropriate crop growing.

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This example helps explain the deep roots formed.

Maximizing growth, maximizes photosynthesis and thus carbon capture. All fun stuff!!!

Click here to learn more about our sustainability practices year-round

Heather Tallman

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