First and foremorel is flexibility- think outside the traditional silo! Some practices, I believe are here to stay, including the multi- or opti-cut systems, which plan harvest around the stage of growth and not the calendar. These approaches – which harvest the grass before seedhead emergence and before stem elongation – enable high quality silage to be made with lower risks. That’s because not only are there more cuts in the season, but each cut is lower in yield, so can be mown, wilted and picked up quicker. This results in lower field losses and higher quality silage, and the weather risk is spread over a greater number of harvests.

Alongside this, we need to consider what other crops fit into our rotations, especially within any cultivated land on the farm. The use of rye as an autumn-sown crop after maize is one such example. Rye is able to establish and grow through the autumn and winter months, especially given our much milder winters. This allows harvesting as a green crop very early in the spring before another crop of maize is planted. This type of double-cropping enables better use of land, but it also reduces run-off, and the potential loss of soil nutrients from bare land over the winter.

If drought is a regular occurrence, deeper rooting crops such as red clover, lucerne and even multispecies swards can all be considered. These will be more resilient during periods of water shortage and provide better yields than grass alone. However, like grass, they need frequent cutting – before flower emergence in the legumes and before seedhead emergence and stem growth in the multispecies herbal leys.

Crop maturity has a huge bearing on forage quality, so I’m a big advocate of going for it if the crop is almost ready and the weather is good but expected to change. A lower yield of higher quality grass in the clamp is worth far more than a big yield of stemmy stuff with less meat or milk production potential.

In addition, if grass is suffering from drought, then harvest it! As soon as the rain comes a cut sward will recover much quicker than that sward you waited to bulk up, as the drought-stricken, bulky sward requires much more water to rehydrate and start to grow than an aftermath.

The maturity of maize requires similar consideration, as if the crop is heat- or drought-stressed and beginning to die, but has not reached the cob development you would like, the chances of it ever reaching the starch content you wanted are small. So again, you’d be better off getting it into the clamp than having a dead crop with low fibre digestibility and a poor starch content. Getting it in early also enables you to get on and establish another crop to fill that forage gap.

When being adaptable, it is important to focus attention on the detail of silage making, and chop length should be altered, depending on dry matter and quality. These guidelines are there for a reason, as optimum compaction reduces aerobic spoilage losses, whilst ensuring the clamp doesn’t slip. For a grass of high D value and a dry matter of less than 28%, a 10-12cm chop length is not too long. Conversely, a grass at over 35% DM should be chopped to a 2cm length.

Mycotoxins such as penicillic acid, roquefortine C and mycophenolic acid would traditionally be associated with aerobic spoilage and heating in the silage clamp. As such, they are designated ‘storage-formed’ mycotoxins. However, some of these penicillium mycotoxins are now being found in silages that are very well managed, with no hint of mould growth or heating. We scientists are still working on the source of these mycotoxins, which are an enigma. We wouldn’t expect them to have been formed in the field, where different mycotoxins result from fungal plant pathogen growth. But it’s possible they could originate on dead material in the swards. Either way, I have no doubt science will, over the coming years, determine the most likely source. But for now, I’d recommend keeping an eye out for unexpected poor performance.

Using the approaches I’ve outlined will give more flexibility in producing home-grown feeds, and help address emerging challenges. I hope this year’s harvest is easier than the last few, and if not, I hope some of these options will help improve the outcome.