ALBERT

Notes: A review of American literature indicates that barn drying of hay and silage making are both greatly superior to the field curing of hay in preserving nutrients. This is true of total dry matter, crude protein, ether extract and ash; crude-fibre losses are greater in silage making. Energy losses run parallel with dry matter. Bam drying of hay with heat preserves a rather greater proportion of nutrients than does silage making.Chemical composition and digestibility are mostly a function of stage of maturity of the crop at the time of cutting. Actual carbohydrate (energy) losses are greater than protein losses in all methods. The influence of method of conservation is unimportant if conservation is properly carried out, but considerable deterioration can result from bad application. Field-cured hay usually suffers most in this respect, due to weather damage.The conservation processes reviewed have no influence per se on feeding value where each is applied under ideal conditions. Differences found in practice are usually linked to the stage of maturity or to weather damage, which explains the usually superior feeding value of silage and barn-dried hay over field-cured hay.When the efficiency of each method is compared by determining the quantity of milk produced from equal areas of forage, conserved in the three different ways, barn-dried hay is somewhat superior to silage, but both are greatly superior to field-cured hay.

Notes: The effect of temperature on silage quality was investigated in a series of trials over a period of three years.The results indicated that when conditions in the silage were favourable for the formation of lactic acid, either through treatment or because of the herbage itself, low temperatures in the mass had no adverse effect on silage quality.Some results suggest that, with chopped or lacerated silage, low maximum temperatures are associated with better quality silage. The results, however, were not entirely consistent.There appeared to be little or no advantage in allowing unchopped silage to heat to 100°F.

Notes: An experiment was started in 1957 that compared the production from dairy cows on daily strip-folding with that from a system of rotational grazing where the cows were given a fresh allocation of pasture about once or twice a week. Management was so arranged that equal areas of pasture were grazed off by the same number of cows in a similar period of time. The experiment was carried out at two rates of stocking, one about 20% greater than the other, the lower rate considered to be equivalent to good close folding practice and the higher rate therefore somewhat restrictive. No supplementary food was given during the grazing season.At the high rate of stocking, rotational grazing gave an average milk yield of 40 lb./cow/day whilst daily strip-folding yielded 38 lb./cow/day. At the low rate of stocking production was 42 lb./cow/day for both methods.At the high rate milk yield/acre from the rotational grazing was 1007 and from the strip-folding 977 gals. At the low rate comparable results were 881 and 874 gals.There was no general trend in yield per cow or per acre in favour of either the rotational grazing or daily strip-folding systems of management. Increasing cow days/acre by 21% decreased yield/cow/day by 7% but significantly increased milk yield/acre, by 13%.

Notes: In an attempt to measure the influence of leys on the yield of barley, as a means of measuring soil fertility, details of the yields of barley, fertilizer usage and rotations were collected from a number of Hampshire farms and compared with the average results obtained from the ley fertility experiment at Bridget's Experimental Husbandry farm. In the arable rotation experiment increasing the nitrogen level from 37 to 74 units, increased the barley yield from 20·2 cwt. to 24·3 cwt.Farm number 1 used 43 units of nitrogen compared with 61 units of nitrogen on farm 2. The yield rose from 18·7 to 25·4 cwt.Following 3 years grazed ley at Bridget's and increasing the nitrogen level from 37 to 74 units raised the yield from 25·5 cwt. to 29 cwt.Farms 4 and 5 used 47 units of nitrogen compared with 74 units of nitrogen on farms 7, 8 and 9. The yield rose from 24·7 cwt. to 30 cwt.Farms 6 and 10 obtained 29·1 and 28·7 cwt. from only 49 units of nitrogen and 26 units of nitrogen respectively, by the use of some lucerne leys on farm 6, and by only taking one grain crop on farm 10.A three year ley is therefore probably worth 15 cwt. of increased barley yield in the 3 succeeding crops of grain, when using not less than 26 units of nitrogen. An additional 5 cwt. of barley can be obtained annually by the use of 37 units of nitrogen.A sharp fall in yield in 1956 and 1957 on farm 10 to 217 cwt. may have been due to a reduction in the use of nitrogen, or other causes.Farm number 3, without livestock, obtained 28·1 cwt. when using 86 units of nitrogen. Was this due to the use of a 2 year ley and fallow crop in a six year rotation, or the use of additional nitrogen: farm 8, at the same level of nitrogen, stocking and use of clover, has only gained 2·3 cwt. per acre.

Notes: Self-feeding of silage has been successfully practised at Tillycorthie for 5 years. With unrestricted access to the feeding face, daily grazing times for 9-cwt. animals varied from 4 periods totalling 121 minutes in the case of stronger animals to 7 periods totalling 378 minutes.In feeding, chopped silage was more wasteful than long silage. The daily intake of 7-cwt. animals was 68 lb. of silage and 4 lb. of oat straw. The labour requirement for 70 animals was 6–6 hours per week.Food and labour costs on the system were 10s. 11d. per week. The estimated cost of the same items on. turnips and straw feeding is 16s. 4d. per week.The health of the cattle was good and growth excellent, and the animals went out to graze in a condition which allowed them to make maximum liveweight gain on grass.

Notes: The production and use of cocksfoot foggage for winter grazing at the Hannah Dairy Research Institute in the period 1956–61 is described. Two acres of cocksfoot (S37) were sown broadcast in 1956 and two acres were drilled in rows 28 in apart in 1957. The average annual application of fertilizer nutrients was 118 lb. N, 51 1b. P2O5 and 142 lb. K2O per acre.The mean yield of the broadcast section was 7450 lb. dry matter/acre/annum compared with 6090 lb. from the rowcrop section. Normally two crops of grass were harvested from the field in the summer, and one grazing was made in the winter. The yield of winter herbage dry matter was 28% and 26% of the total annual yield of the broadcast and the rowcrop sections, respectively.The field was grazed for four successive winters by 5–10 bulling heifers each weighing 650–850 lb. They received no other feed during the grazing period. Grazing started in December and finished in February, March or April in different years. The mean intake of herbage dry matter was only 6 lb./day, and on average the heifers lost 80 lb. liveweight each winter. This loss was regained after 4–6 weeks when the winter grazing finished. Twenty-nine of the 30 heifers held to the first or second service while grazing the winter herbage.On average the broadcast section gave 340 heifer-grazing-days per acre during the winter and the rowcrop section 260 days. The cost of a heifer-grazing-day was 3id. and 4id. on the broadcast and rowcrop sections, respectively.The dry matter of the herbage cut on 19 December 1960 had a digestible crude protein content of 59% and a starch equivalent of 34.It is concluded that on well-drained land the technique of foggage production and of winter grazing can usefully extend the normal grazing season and hence reduce the costs of winter feeding.

Notes: Two cutting treatments were applied to a cocksfoot sward, and the changes in fructosan and soluble–sugar contents of the roots, stubble and herbage were studied over a complete year.Both the soluble-sugar and fructosan contents of roots were at a low level throughout the experiment. The total soluble carbohydrate in the roots never exceeded 4%. It is concluded that cocksfoot roots are not important storage regions for soluble carbohydrates.The total soluble carbohydrate in herbage varied with season and reached a maximum of 10%. It was not affected by cuuing treatment.In stubble the total stubble-carbohydrate content fluctuated markedly with season and reached a maximum of 18% in October; it was generally higher on the infrequently-cut swards than on those cut frequently. The soluble-sugar content was small and changed little with season or cutting treatment; the fructosan content, however, varied from 2 to 16–6% and accounted for most of the changes in the soluble-carbohydrate content. Stubble is apparently the major storage region for soluble carbohydrates in cocksfoot.Under sward conditions, the quantity of soluble carbohydrates in the stubble of cocksfoot may have a positive effect on the herhage growth immediately after winter defoliation. However, when swards are actively growing in spring, other factors, such as tiller size and number, may be equally important in determining the amount of herbage recovery growth.

Notes: One of the main problems associated with silage-making is the wastage which occurs through either the use of unsuitable silos or lack of care in filling the silo. The nutrient losses caused by waste can be very high, a fact which is seldom recognized, and it is imperative that wastage should be kept to a minimum. There need be very little side-waste when a container silo is properly filled, but surface waste is more of a problem, as applying and removing conventional sealing materials, such as soil or ground limestone, are laborious and costly. In many cases, however, the cost would be amply justified because of the quantity of silage which is wasted. Using plastic sheet as an airtight seal is a possible alternative, but it is not easy to ensure that it is completely airtight and the sheet is unlikely to be of use for more than one season. An increasing number of farmers are protecting their silage with permanent roofs, a practice which will lead to a general improvement in silage quality. Theoretically, however, the hermetically-sealed tower silo is ideal from the point of view of protecting silage. The cost of this type of silo and of the ancillary equipment required is prohibitive, and it remains to be seen whether a relatively cheap form of gas-tight silo can be evolved.In future it is likely that the recommendation to allow a temperature rise to 90–100°F in silage will be ignored, as results from a number of trials clearly show that there is no advantage in doing this. Continuous filling of the silo, rather than filling in layers and allowing the mass to heat up, will allow a greater quantity of herbage to be ensiled in a given time, thus making it easier to ensile the herbage at the correct stage of growth.In the past when an additive was used it was applied by hand, a very inefficient method of distribution. Silage-making has become highly mechanized, and it is likely that mechanical application of additives will become much more popular.The importance of the dry-matter content of the herbage being ensiled will be more generally recognized. There are many benefits in pre-wilting herbage before it is ensiled, and this treatment is well worth consideration. It is obviously undesirable to have a prolonged wilting period, and one technique which may be of some interest is cutting the crop with a flail-harvester, allowing it to wilt and then picking up with a harvester. Cutting with a harvester gives a very much increased drying rate of the herbage, and the double lacerating action of the harvester in cutting and picking up results in short material which is easily handled and consolidated.

Notes: The practice of‘early bite’ was surveyed on sixty dairy farms in Wales during the period 1958–60. Assessment in a financial sense was made of the pros and cons of this practice. It was obvious that‘early bite’ was wasted or misused on many farms.