Newcomers to maize boost milk solids

When Derrick Wilson decided to grow maize for the first time on his South Wales farm, he was keen to get every practice right and make the most of the crop’s benefits for his herd of Holstein Friesians.

Farming with sons, James and Robert, at West Pool Farm near the village of Pendine on the Carmarthenshire-Pembrokeshire border, the family felt their 600 cows would do well with maize in their milking ration. Now producing around 9,000 litres at 4.5% fat and 3.65% protein, the family say they’re particularly pleased with the lift in solids they’ve seen since the crop was introduced, around four years ago.

With an enterprise of 800 acres (324ha), around 500ac (202ha) of which are owned and 300ac (121ha) rented, the family were able to dedicate around 150 acres (61ha) to forage maize.

Fields were selected carefully for their sheltered, ideally south-facing aspect and their lower altitude, generally running at 300-400 feet above sea level and avoiding those on higher parts of the farm. The team were happy with the yields of around 17 tonnes freshweight per acre, and keen to preserve all the feed value they could from the crop. Tim Frost, Kelvin Cave’s representative in South Wales, said:

“Maize can carry a high fungal loading, particularly in a wet year, which increases the risk of aerobic instability and waste.

“This, in turn, can reduce palatability and increase the risk of mycotoxin formation.

“Maize is also a high dry matter crop so extra attention needs to be given to compaction to exclude any air, as this would allow for the proliferation of yeasts and moulds.”

He therefore recommended using Safesil Pro, specifically formulated for high dry matter silages in which it will inhibit fungal growth.

The Wilsons decided not to leave their maize silage fermentation to chance and opted to use Safesil Pro from the outset.

Always delighted with the outcome, Derrick says: “We feed the maize all year round and it is always perfectly cool. Our clamp has a face of about 11 metres wide which takes about a week to cross. In that time, it always remains stone cold, and stays that way in the trough.”

The ration is pushed up to the feed fence once a day, but there’s never any heating, or waste to discard.

With heat considered to be one of the first signs of unstable silage, this gives the family confidence they are not losing dry matter.

“Dry matter losses can easily amount to 20% in a clamp of maize, but this is very difficult to measure,” says Tim. “However, if the maize is cool and well compacted with no visible waste, DM losses will be kept to a minimum.”