Silage for winter feeding

[Arielle]

Yes, I had run across that bit of knowledge in my research. At this point, I only have monogastrics on my farm. However, my goal is to utilize all the resources my land has to offer and significantly reduce or eliminate outside sources...a pipe dream, I know...but I have the time and means to pursue it. If I find that my flock is not keeping good condition on silage (and possibly mealworms), then I will convert back to their current regimen.

Also, by the time I do acquire ruminants I will have had some practice and experience with the ensiling process.

NOT a pipe dream. Any effort to become self sufficient has many benefits. Less fuel to truck material from the mid west. Nutrients from land better managed to have good micronutrients. ( MIdwest is getting stripped.) Lots of options today to get seeds to see what you can grow. I am trying rabbits because I can grow enough of what they eat given a little time to learn how to harvest, dry and store.
Otherwise, just better eating of the chickens products. A pig farmer in VT buys hay from a local farmer to feed his pigs in the winter. A very remarkable enterprize to maximize the land to produce healthy food. ( sugarmtnfarm.com) He runs chickens with the hogs. THe eggs are fed to the piglets for more protein, and the hogs get to have the eggs the hens fail to lay in the nest boxes. He has planted a wide variety of forages. truely remarkable.

Ensiled grasses though are not fed. HOwever, whey and brewer grains are used. Maybe invest in a goat??

 

[outlander]

I agree, Walter Jeffries is truly remarkable. Most of his practices fall right in line with my own philosophies.

I had thought about goats, and the more I researched them the more I decided they were not a good fit for me. I'm leaning more toward a dairy cow. But that's a long way off...I still have fencing to plan, pay for and install.

In the meantime, I'm attempting to learn and practice as many sustainable techniques as I can

 

[Arielle]

I have lots to learn too, yet I went to agricultrual college. Not information for sustainable farming I assure you. I am looking at amaranth-- would like to grow it-- should be a good dual purpose plant for both seeds and edible leaves.

Sorry I don't want to hijack your original question, so I"ll stop here. SO apparently to utilize fermented forages the animal needs to be a ruminant. But I was sure I saw horses eating silage in Holland. . . . . .

I am not a cow person-- I hate angus, my college show cow always kicked me when released back to the herd. SMart girl, saved it until I couldn't correct her. SO long ago but I still love to see the angus beef in the stores!! I have large sheep and that is the largest I care to handle unless it is a horse. But I"m not eating a horse!

Goats-- any goats would be smaller than my sheep.

Which brings me to a related area-- commercial milk has VitD added. How do you address goats having enough VIt D in their milk?? Or it the effect of all the good green grass, or silage??

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

........ I have large sheep and that is the largest I care to handle unless it is a horse. ....

Sheep are ruminants.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Yes sheep are ruminants. I meant I didn't want to handle anything the size of a cow.

I took a grad class in ruminent nutrition a million years ago, and when I look at the book wonder how I survived the class-- endless biochemistry of the gut. ( have forgotten most of it)

 

[outlander]

Well...my silage experiment is under way! The first goal is to wait several weeks to see if I did it right. If all looks well, then the next step will be to see if the chickens will eat it. If they find it palatable, then I will continue to put more up for winter.

 

[Triplehorn]

Well...my silage experiment is under way! The first goal is to wait several weeks to see if I did it right. If all looks well, then the next step will be to see if the chickens will eat it. If they find it palatable, then I will continue to put more up for winter.

How is the silage experiment going ?

 

[outlander]

Hey! Thanks for asking!

I used small bags I had on hand, which were dog poop bags. They're pretty thin so I triple bagged and taped shut. After several weeks it was apparent that a few of them were compromised...moldy and funky, not the cleanly sour/grassy smell of the well-sealed bags. I emptied the punked ones into the compost and buried them within.

As for the other bags... The chickens aren't really interested if it's presented on its own. However, when I empty a bag on top of the compost pile they have it gone by the end of the day

Eggs are still very deeply colored, like they would be during spring/summer when green forage is abundant. I'm nearly to the end of my store. When I run out, we'll see if yolk color is affected.

 

[CherMoz]

I just started feeding silage (sweet corn stalks with overripe corn) yesterday. The chickens and turkeys love it!! How did it turn out for you last winter? We, too, are interested in utilizing the land we have to feed our chickens and turkeys.