🌾 Silage
Fermented green fodder, the main feed on large farms.
Silage is green feed preserved by fermentation. Put simply, it is pickled grass or maize. Silage is made from maize, grasses, alfalfa, oats, wheat and sorghum. On many large farms it is the main feed for cows.
The plants are chopped and packed down tightly to push out the air. The mass is covered — in a trench, in a tower silo or in bales wrapped in plastic film. The moisture of the crop should be about 50–60%, but no more than 75%. Without air, bacteria turn the plant sugars into acids, mainly lactic acid. Fermentation starts after about 48 hours and is mostly over within two weeks. The acid is the preservative: the feed keeps for months.
Silage was already being made in the early 19th century. The Finnish chemist Artturi Virtanen found a better way to preserve feed and won the Nobel Prize for it in 1945. Silage has its problems too. If it has a lot of clostridia spores (bacteria that live without air), they pass into the milk and can spoil hard cheese. Gas from silage pits is dangerous for people, and runoff from silage pollutes water.
How it connects to milk
🌾 Silage → feed for → 🔄 Feeding → feeds → 🐄 Cow → gives → 🥛 Milk
Links
- Feed for
- 🔄 Feeding
Frequently asked questions
What is silage in simple terms?
It is chopped green plants — maize or grass — packed tightly with no air. Bacteria ferment it, and the acid that forms preserves the feed for months.
How does silage affect cheese?
If silage has a lot of clostridia spores, they get into the milk. This is a risk for hard cheeses: as the cheese ripens, these bacteria can spoil it.
How long does silage take to ferment?
Fermentation starts about two days after the silage is made and is mostly finished in about two weeks.