GRASS SILAGEi 



By J. G. Archibald, Research Professor, and C. H. Parsons, 

 Assistant Professor, of Animal Husbandry 



Introduction 



During the past decade the making of silage out of grasses, legumes, and small 

 grains, has become an accepted alternative method of storing these crops. Like 

 many other developments in our agricultural practice, when first introduced and 

 for a few years thereafter it became almost a fad. In their enthusiasm some people 

 thought it would revolutionize our entire system of storing roughage, while 

 others led astray by,extravagant claims expected too much of it and as a result 

 were disillusioned if not disappointed. Fortunately that phase of the situation 

 is now pretty much a matter of history; farmers and professional agriculturists 

 generally have come to recognize the practice as a supplement to, not a substitute 

 for, ordinary' hay making, to be relied on especially in unfavorable haying seasons 

 and on those farms where the hay acreage is large, to aid in solving the problem 

 of storage space and to help shorten the haying season. 



Use of Preservatives 



Since an earlier bulletin on the subject was published (April, 1939), much work 

 has been done at this station and elsewhere on the problem of preservatives for 

 grass silage. 2 The question is twofold; viz., are preservatives really necessary, 

 and if so, what materials are satisfactory to use for the purpose? 



As to the necessity for using preservatives the evidence is conflicting. Some 

 investigators and operators report complete satisfaction when the crop is wilted 

 and no preservative is added. Others have not been able to produce; satisfactory 

 silage unless a preservati\'e has been added. The reasons for this situation are 

 not far to seek. They lie in the facts that (a) under conditions of practice, e.g., 

 unfavorable weather and/or' labor problems, it is sometimes not possible to wilt 

 the crop to a sufficient degree ; (b) many operators are unfamiliar with what consti- 

 tutes a proper degree of wilting; and (c) with some crops, especially the small 

 grains, it is much easier to produce good quality silage without preservatives, 

 than it is with some of the grasses. Also, because of limited experience many 

 operators report that they have secured good quality silage when oftentimes the 

 quality, if rated bj' someone competent to judge it, would be considered mediocre 

 at best. 



Where the wilting procedure is followed, the range of moisture permissible 

 for success is not less than approximately 60 percent nor more than approximately 

 70 percent. Insufficient wilting v ithout preservative results in an ill-smelling 

 silage containing e.xcessive amounts of butyric acid and ammonia; excessive 

 wilting results in spoilage due to growth of molds because the crop is too dry to 

 pack sufficiently to exclude all air. 



'This bulletin is a revision of Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 362, 

 which it supersedes. 



^The term "grass silage" as used throughout this publication is a general designation meant to 

 include, as indeed it does in general usage, silage made from the legumes and smaH grains as well 

 as from the grasses. 



