Nutrition
The ensiled product retains a much larger proportion of its nutrients than if the crop had been dried and stored as hay or stover.
Bulk silage is commonly fed to dairy cattle, while baled silage tends to be used for beef cattle, sheep and horses.
Since silage goes through a fermentation process, energy is used by fermentative bacteria to produce volatile fatty acids (VFAs), such as acetic, propionic, lactic, and butyric, which preserve the forage. The result is that the silage is lower in energy than the original forage, since the fermentative bacteria use some of the carbohydrates to produce VFAs. Thus, the ensiling process preserves forages, but does not improve the quality or the nutrient value. Although it does not increase the nutrient level of the plant matter ensiled, it does increase the digestibility and utilization of nutrient by ruminants.
Read more about this topic: Silage
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