Cattle: problems when feeding freshly ensiled maize
Cut maize is harvested. After this, it must be ensiled for optimum conservation, so that your cattle will be able to feed on it for months to come. Nevertheless, freshly harvested maize contains a lot of sugar and starch, which is not always easy for cows to digest. Additionally, thanks to the high sugar content, cows tend to love fresh, freshly ensiled maize and have a tendency to overfeed. This combination can lead to various problems among your herd. Read this blog to learn more about the ensiling process and how to mitigate any problems encountered as a result of feeding cows freshly cut maize.
Ensiling maize
During the ensiling process, the presence of lactic acid bacteria converts sugars in the maize into lactic acid, acetic acid and propionic acid. This, in turn, causes the sugar content to be reduced. Fresh maize also contains a lot of resistant starch. On average, a fresh batch of freshly ensiled maize contains twice as much resistant starch as one that was ensiled some time ago, making it an optimal source of glucose. If too much of that starch is fed to a cow, the animal will find it much more difficult to digest. The preservation process of starch lasts about 6 to 8 months and ensures that the starch is better broken down in the rumen, but ultimately also in the small intestine.
Potential problems when feeding freshly ensiled maize
Freshly ensiled maize must be completely sealed for at least 4 to 6 weeks before it can be safely used as animal feed. Do you feed your livestock fresh cut maize immediately after ensiling? If so, you may encounter a number of problems:
-
A decrease in milk production;
-
Rumen acidification, as a result of which cows do not adequately break down cell wall-rich feed, digestion problems occur, and less milk fat is produced; or
-
Other health problems.
Cattle farmers can do the following in their barn
There are several ways in which a cattle farmer can prevent problem when feeding cattle freshly ensiled maize. Here are several tips:
Reduce the amount
Cows like freshly cut maize, so they easily tend to eat too much and therefore have problems digesting it. Therefore, limiting the supply of fresh maize and topping up with older silage is a good idea.
Prevent heating
Prevent heating in the ensiled maize and use a heating inhibitor during the ensiling process. We recommend using a heating inhibitor based on acetic acid and/or propionic acid.
A well-balanced ration
Provide a ration with an adequate texture and limit the supply of fast carbohydrates.
Make two maize silages
Try to make two silages if you have to feed your cattle fresh maize: a small one which can be used for direct feeding and a large one. Seal off the large one for at least 6 weeks and add more acid to the small batch to enrich the ration.
Ensure that the ration is more well-balanced or use Rumistar
Another option to make the transition to freshly ensiled maize more gradual is to add Rumistar to your cows’ rations. This is a registered alpha-amylase enzyme that increases the digestibility of maize starch in the rumen and intestine. Rumistar not only stimulates the digestion of starch, but also of fibre. As this is extremely low in freshly ensiled maize, the addition of Rumistar to the ration is certainly recommended.
Ask an expert for help
Are you about to make the transition to freshly ensiled maize and do you want to optimise your herd’s ration to prevent any problems? Ask one of the experts at VDS Premix to help you. He or she will be happy to give you all the advice you need.
