Guest guest Posted February 24, 2004 Report Share Posted February 24, 2004 Hi, I have only just found your reply - sorry about that. > > What about silage? How would you rate this compared to hay and pasture? > > What exactly is it apart from a smelly gunk? > My biggest problem with silage is the seed used. Field corn has been > hybridized and genetically engineered from the original seeds for more ear > production, more, altered carbs, pest, disease control because of the > problems created from overuse. So if this silage is grass silage, which, where I grew up, was what " silage " referred to, would you consider it acceptable? Ie am I still eating grass-fed, pastured cows, if they eat grass silage in the winter? > Silage is a fermented, > predigested still pretty much green food, ground up field corn, stalks and > ears.Useful along with hay in winter to keep body weight constant. > Wanita Also, the cattle from the farm I get my meat from are overwintered inside, because otherwise apparently everything turns into a giant quagmire. How acceptable do people find this? I'm really sorry if I have missed any other posts by the way - I sort to try and pick up all relevant ones but if the header changes I can miss them if I've been away for a few days. Best wishes to all, Helen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 24, 2004 Report Share Posted February 24, 2004 hi, helen: >So if this silage is grass silage, which, where I grew up, was what " silage " >referred to, would you consider it acceptable? Ie am I still eating >grass-fed, pastured cows, if they eat grass silage in the winter? grass silage is called haylage. and in my opinion haylage is still grass-fed. grass is grass! you don't feed a cow only haylage though - it would be accompanied by dry hay as well. > > Silage is a fermented, > > predigested still pretty much green food, ground up field corn, stalks and > > ears.Useful along with hay in winter to keep body weight constant. > > Wanita > >Also, the cattle from the farm I get my meat from are overwintered inside, >because otherwise apparently everything turns into a giant quagmire. How >acceptable do people find this? i don't like to see cows overwintered only inside, but it happens, even on good farms. we turn our animals out during the day and bring them in at night, quagmire or not, because we think it's important for them to get sun and fresh air (and also for the barn to air out). if the weather is particularly bad, they generally choose to stay in or near the barn for most of the day, but at least it's their choice and they can step out to stretch their legs and breathe. -katja Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 24, 2004 Report Share Posted February 24, 2004 Katja- >grass silage is called haylage. I'd assumed that hayledge is made from grass that's basically been dried out before fermenting, in contrast to grass sileage, made from fresh-cut grass. Not so? - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 24, 2004 Report Share Posted February 24, 2004 --- You don't make silage from grass. You can chop green and THEN ferment corn(corn silage),grain sorghum or a taller version of grain sorghum which is usually used(rather than grain sorghum). Haylage is chopped fresh(green) and fed fresh a few minutes later. Alfalfa is used as green chop as are others which can be hARVESTED 3 OR 4 TIMES SEASONALLY. Dennis In , Idol <Idol@c...> wrote: > Katja- > > >grass silage is called haylage. > > I'd assumed that hayledge is made from grass that's basically been dried > out before fermenting, in contrast to grass sileage, made from fresh-cut > grass. Not so? > > > > > - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 25, 2004 Report Share Posted February 25, 2004 Hi Katja, Thanks for your help & information! > grass silage is called haylage. Ok, thanks. It's called silage in the UK. > and in my opinion haylage is still grass-fed. grass is grass! you don't > feed a cow only haylage though - it would be accompanied by dry hay as well. Thanks - that's great! I'm happy about my beef sources! > >Also, the cattle from the farm I get my meat from are overwintered inside, > >because otherwise apparently everything turns into a giant quagmire. How > >acceptable do people find this? > > i don't like to see cows overwintered only inside, but it happens, even on > good farms. we turn our animals out during the day and bring them in at > night, quagmire or not, because we think it's important for them to get sun > and fresh air (and also for the barn to air out). if the weather is > particularly bad, they generally choose to stay in or near the barn for > most of the day, but at least it's their choice and they can step out to > stretch their legs and breathe. Sounds good. Helen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 25, 2004 Report Share Posted February 25, 2004 > Katja- > > >grass silage is called haylage. > > I'd assumed that hayledge is made from grass that's basically been dried > out before fermenting, in contrast to grass sileage, made from fresh-cut > grass. Not so? > > - Hi , Having done my own research, you are right for the UK senses of the word. silage - GRASS cut and wilted for 1-2 days, til about 75% moisture content, then sealed and fermented. haylage (newish term, I reckon - never heard it when I was a child!) - grass cut and wilted for longer, turned more etc, so moisture lowers. Haylage produces less / better effluent than silage. If grains are used they seem to be referred to explicitly as, eg, " maize silage " . Helen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 25, 2004 Report Share Posted February 25, 2004 ---Helen you have any idea what grasses those would be? I never heard of fermenting grass. Here in KS we usually mow, air dry and bale at low moisture content and then feed in winter. I suppose it's something other than big and little bluestem which is a native Kansas grass. Dennis > Hi , > > Having done my own research, you are right for the UK senses of the word. > > silage - GRASS cut and wilted for 1-2 days, til about 75% moisture content, > then sealed and fermented. > > haylage (newish term, I reckon - never heard it when I was a child!) - grass > cut and wilted for longer, turned more etc, so moisture lowers. Haylage > produces less / better effluent than silage. > > If grains are used they seem to be referred to explicitly as, eg, " maize > silage " . > > > Helen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 25, 2004 Report Share Posted February 25, 2004 --- hahaha to you<grin> Where are you at?Roughly..One comment though we have pit silos here (KS)for making silage(also have upright silos). Dennis In , katja <katja@a...> wrote: > haha! apparently, dennis, there's different names everywhere! > > where we are, there are almost no silos (which is what makes silage > silage!). there's either corn mash or beet mash, which is fermented corn > plants or beet plants, and then there's haylage, which is fermented > fresh-cut haygrass, and then there's green-chop, which is haygrass that's > been cut and chopped and fed from trucks to the cows right away (usually > cause the pasture the cows are on is drought-affected or cause the cows are > on feed lot). > > anyway. the names are probably regional... > > At 11:41 PM 2/24/2004, you wrote: > > >--- You don't make silage from grass. You can chop green and THEN > >ferment corn(corn silage),grain sorghum or a taller version of grain > >sorghum which is usually used(rather than grain sorghum). Haylage is > >chopped fresh(green) and fed fresh a few minutes later. Alfalfa is > >used as green chop as are others which can be hARVESTED 3 OR 4 TIMES > >SEASONALLY. Dennis > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 25, 2004 Report Share Posted February 25, 2004 --- In , " Helen East " <helen@p...> wrote: > Hi Katja, > > Thanks for your help & information! > > > > grass silage is called haylage. > > Ok, thanks. It's called silage in the UK. > > > and in my opinion haylage is still grass-fed. grass is grass! you don't > > feed a cow only haylage though - it would be accompanied by dry hay as > well. > <><><><<><>Ever treated a bloated cow? Dennis > Thanks - that's great! I'm happy about my beef sources! > > > >Also, the cattle from the farm I get my meat from are overwintered > inside, > > >because otherwise apparently everything turns into a giant quagmire. How > > >acceptable do people find this? > > > > i don't like to see cows overwintered only inside, but it happens, even on > > good farms. we turn our animals out during the day and bring them in at > > night, quagmire or not, because we think it's important for them to get > sun > > and fresh air (and also for the barn to air out). if the weather is > > particularly bad, they generally choose to stay in or near the barn for > > most of the day, but at least it's their choice and they can step out to > > stretch their legs and breathe. > > Sounds good. > > Helen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 25, 2004 Report Share Posted February 25, 2004 At 11:23 AM 2/25/2004, you wrote: >--- hahaha to you<grin> Where are you at?Roughly..One comment though >we have pit silos here (KS)for making silage(also have upright silos). >Dennis i'm in vermont. there are a very few around, but most of our farms are just not large enough to bother with silos, and the few that are seem to choose against them. i'm sure there must be some kind of reason, but i don't know it! instead everyone uses the big white haylage bags (referred to as " ag bags " ) - they look like enormous snow caterpillars! or the small round-bale-sized bags, which look like marshmallows sitting out in the fields... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 Helen, > So if this silage is grass silage, which, where I grew up, was what " silage " > referred to, would you consider it acceptable? Ie am I still eating > grass-fed, pastured cows, if they eat grass silage in the winter? Yes, grass silage or haylage (U.S. translation :-) is definitely winter feed for grass fed, pastured. > > Also, the cattle from the farm I get my meat from are overwintered inside, > because otherwise apparently everything turns into a giant quagmire. How > acceptable do people find this? Very acceptable! Overwintering inside part of raising livestock in northern latitudes. Last thing you want is a broken leg from slipping on ice or foot rot from being in the mud. > > I'm really sorry if I have missed any other posts by the way - I sort to try > and pick up all relevant ones but if the header changes I can miss them if > I've been away for a few days. Pretty sure, I'm all who responded on this other than Katja on haylage. Wanita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 Farms with silos still standing around here don't use them for corn silage like they used to. They make trench silos between piled beams, turn it with the bucket loader from time to time and cover it with a tarp. Don't know why other than silos in bad shape or they don't want to buy the equipment to blow it up into the silos. All small farms around here left in comparison to midwest and corporate operations. Have to make do and probably have downsized selling off land to not need silo full. Wanita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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