Legume and Grass Silage 



History and Purposes 



Problems relative to the curing of legumes and grasses as high quality 

 roughage have always been of paramount importance to dairymen. In order 

 to prevent loss in preserving these roughages, research work was insti- 

 tuted to find ways of solving the problem. Preserving the material as a 

 silage seemed to hold the greatest promise. From the studies made on the 

 normal ensiling process of the corn plant it was concluded that the reasons 

 for common failure in preserving legumes and grasses as high quality silage 

 was due to the low sugar and high protein contents of these plants, which 

 prevented desirable fermentation. Low sugar content prevents quick fer- 

 mentation and permits undesirable bacterial action to start. Such action 

 decomposes the proteins, producing strong smelling and in many cases, putrid 

 silage. Cows would eat this material in some cases and in others the rotted 

 mass had to be removed from the silos and spread on the fields. 



The addition of molasses to the legumes and grasses as they were being 

 ensiled overcame the difficulty. The sugar in the molasses provided the 

 nutrients necessary for bacterial action, which produced the desirable acidity 

 for preservation. The lactic and acetic acid formed (the same acids produced 

 in ensiling corn) preserved the legumes and grasses with very slight nutrient 

 losses. 



Commercial phosphoric acid has been used in both controlled experiments 

 and on farms, to directly increase the acidity of the ensiled material. This 

 reduces bacterial action immediately. The method shows some promise 

 but is newer and has less practical experience behind it. 



Ordinarily it takes ten years for a new method to be adopted by the 

 farming public after all the experimental work has been completed. In this 

 particular case, before all the ramifications of the method, such as field opera- 

 tion, mechanical difficulties in chopping, and silo filling, had been overcome, 

 many dairymen tried it out. 



It was believed by the committee that if this survey covered a fair per- 

 centage of farms whose operators ensiled legumes and grasses, factual in- 



*This bulletin was reprinted from New Jersey Experiment Station Bulletin 643. 



