Q&A for How to Make Silage

The fermentation process takes 10 days to 3 weeks. Silage should not be fed until after this process is completed for the best milk production and feed intake. Thus, the recommendation is to wait at least 3 weeks before feeding new crop silage.

Not always. Molasses can be used, especially if the sugar levels in the grass are low. If the sugar levels are reasonably high, then the silage will ferment on its own. Adding molasses is messy and can be expensive, but will raise the quality of your silage.

You can by silage, but it is usually cheaper to make most of your silage yourself if you have a large group of animals.

Corn should be harvested at the half milkline stage at the age of 90 to 110 days

The fermentation process takes 10 days to 3 weeks for completion. Silages should not be fed until after this process is completed for the best milk production and feed intake. Thus, the recommendation is to wait at least 3 weeks before feeding new crop silages.

Maize is a great plant to make silage from, especially when harvested at the correct time (see earlier answer to the question about when it is the best time to harvest). The corn cob is very high in starch, a highly soluble carbohydrate, that feeds the beneficial anaerobic bacteria, essential in creating the acidic environment that will preserve (ensile) the plant material.