Method for making corn straw silage (technical points of corn silage)

Green fodder is rich in nutrition, good in palatability, easy to digest, and has a conditioning effect on livestock and poultry. It is a good feed for pigs and poultry. In the four seasons of the year, there is a surplus of green fodder in summer and autumn, but a shortage of green fodder in winter and spring.

If the remaining green fodder in summer and autumn is stored and used for feeding in winter and spring, the feeding conditions of pigs and poultry in winter and spring can be fundamentally improved, playing a role of adjusting the situation from abundant to scarce.

The silage method can effectively maintain the nutrition of green and juicy feed. The silage method can keep green feed for several months to several years without rotting or deteriorating. How is silage made? The following introduces the simplest method and steps for corn straw silage.

1. Raw material harvesting

The raw materials for making silage for pigs and poultry should be harvested and processed when the nutritional content is good and the yield is high. Generally, leguminous plants, such as alfalfa, clover, potato, broad bean seedlings, etc., are harvested from bud formation to the early flowering stage.

Poaceae plants are harvested from the booting stage to the heading stage; sweet potato vines are best harvested before frost.

2. Silage pit production

To make a qualified silage pit, the silage pits come in different shapes, including round and rectangular. The pit must be more than 50 cm above the groundwater level, and the four corners of the rectangle must be made into semicircles, which makes it easier to compact the raw materials, facilitate the sinking of the silage, and discharge the residual air.

The inner wall must have a certain slope, with a large mouth and a small bottom. It should also be kept away from ditches and ponds to prevent water leakage, air leakage, etc. Ammoniation tanks and plastic bags can also be used to make silage.

3. Cut the raw materials into short pieces

Green fodder is cut into short pieces to facilitate compaction, and the juice in the raw material flows out, which is beneficial for lactic acid bacteria to absorb sugar. Generally, green fodder should be cut into 3-6 cm pieces, and coarse, hard or difficult to ensilage raw materials should be cut into fine pieces.

If it is corn or sorghum stalks, they must be crushed into about 1 cm.

4. Appropriate moisture content of raw materials

The moisture content of silage should be appropriate. If the moisture content is insufficient, the raw materials will not be easy to compact, the gaps will be large, and there will be more oxygen, so the lactic acid bacteria will not be able to reproduce quickly. The plant cells are still breathing, and the cellar temperature will rise, resulting in the silage having a bad smell.

The most suitable water content for lactic acid bacteria to grow is 68-75%. Generally, if you hold the crushed raw materials tightly with your hands and see water droplets between your fingers but no water drips, it is the appropriate water content.

Fresh green forage has a high water content and should be properly dried after harvesting to reduce the water content to below 75%, or mixed with grass meal with low water content for silage.

5. Filling and compacting raw materials

After the raw materials are cut into short pieces, they are immediately spread out and loaded into the cellar, and the layers are compacted tightly, especially the raw materials near the cellar wall to prevent them from rotting. Large and long cellars can be compacted by a chain track tractor, so there is no need to worry about the raw materials being crushed.

If a used earth silo is used, it must be repaired and disinfected before ensiling.

6. Sealing the cellar

When the raw materials are loaded into the pit, they are pressed into a bun shape, and a layer of grass or crop straw is added in the middle, about 100 cm above the pit. Then, when covering with plastic film, about 70 cm of soil is added on top and pressed tightly to seal.

After a few days, the raw materials in the cellar will sink and cracks may appear on the cellar roof. Soil should be added in time to prevent air leakage. A drainage ditch should be dug 1 meter away from the cellar to prevent rainwater from seeping into the cellar.

7. Prevent secondary fermentation

First, isolate the air and control the anaerobic conditions. When opening the cellar to take out the silage, take it out in one piece, do not loosen it, compact it, reduce the air, and cover it with plastic sheet and compact it, and cover it with soil after taking out the silage.

The second is to spray propionic acid or propionate salts to prevent secondary fermentation.