Dairy Business Centre
Silage Edition

Silage season is upon us and here at DBC, we are usually the ones providing quality products and guidance on feeding. However, we are passionate with everything to do with dairy cow nutrition. Agflation is here and is looking like it will not slow down anytime soon. With this, we are seeing costs rise everywhere, including the cost of silage production.

We want to ensure you are getting the most out of the silage you are paying for, removing the risks of poor compaction and mould and yeast growth. We can do this by using Silo Guard.

Silo Guard is an oxygen scavenger that promotes the natural wild type bacteria, found in the paddock, that produce lactic acid and acetic acid, and prevents the growth of moulds and yeasts (heating).

How Silo Guard Works

Silo Guard is an oxygen scavenger composed of enzymes and sulphur compounds that act as a fermentation aid and as a mould inhibitor. Bacteria and inoculants cannot work until all the oxygen is removed from the stack, no matter how well compacted the stack is.

How can Silo Guard protect your investment and save you money?

Yeats (heating) & moulds in silage use energy/carbohydrates for fuel. At the current pay out and accounting for the ME requirement to make 1 litre of milk, for every 0.5 ME/kgDM lost in silage to mould & yeast growth results in a loss of 6 cents of potential income!

Silo Guard allows fermentation to occur faster, allowing for improved quality of silage..

University Farm Trials

University of Wisconsin Farm Trials using Lucerne Silage concluded that temperature readings after 5 days ensiled, Silo Guard promoted faster, healthier fermentation when compared to Inoculant and untreated stacks.

What’s the difference between Silo Guard and Inoculants?

Inoculants are lab grown, synthetic bacteria additives such as L Buchneri (which produces acetic acid), that are used to manipulate and enhance fermentation in baleage, pasture and maize silage.Silo Guard is an oxygen scavenger, eliminating oxygen from bales and stacks allowing for fermentation to occur faster.

Mould and Fungus are naturally present in forages. As soon as forage is cut, it begins to decompose. Extended drying times are perfect conditions for bacteria and fungus colonies to establish before being baled/stacked. This can cause heating and moulds to grow.

Forages contain wild type bacteria that produce lactic acid and acetic acid which is are anaerobic organisms that will not function in the presence of oxygen. Even in very well compacted silage there is still oxygen trapped inside so mould and yeast will thrive.

Silo Guard eliminates oxygen, protecting the wild type bacteria against mould and yeast growth and allows the natural hetero-fermentation to produce lactic and acetic acid which reduces colonies (cfu/g) of mould and yeast during the fermentation period.

How to Apply and Handle Silo Guard

Silo Guard is applied just like you would apply inoculant. There is no need to premix or dilute. No need to store in a fridge or throw away what is left over as you do with inoculants.

Silo Guard is simple and easy to handle and can last up to 2 years in storage.

Benefits of Using Silo Guard

Starts fermentation immediately, by eliminating oxygen
Prevents mould and yeast growth
Reduces dry matter losses
Preserves the quality of the silage and improved digestibility
Easy storage and handling

All of this not only improves the quality and nutrient level of your silage, but animal feed intake is also increased. Resulting in healthier, more productive animals.