Silage innovation: Reduce losses and improve quality

Targeted research priorities

Dairy cattle feed and nutrition
The new silage techniques studied have the potential to improve the nutritional quality of silage offered to dairy cows.

Project summary

The quality of silage, an essential feed for dairy cows, is often compromised by post-harvest losses and inefficient preservation methods. These problems affect animal nutrition and health, as well as farm profitability.

This research project aims to develop a new, innovative silage-making technique. The research team aims to test pre-drying methods to reduce grass moisture before ensiling, as well as a prepared blend of grains, by-products and freshly cut forage to improve nutritional quality. The aim of this approach is to minimize nutrient losses and improve silage quality.

The new technique could reduce post-harvest losses, improve the nutritional quality of silage and offer a more environmentally-friendly alternative to corn silage. Dairy herds would benefit from improved nutrition, resulting in higher milk production and lower feed costs.

Expected results

The project involves developing an innovative silage-making method using natural ingredients and pre-drying techniques to improve the fermentative quality, aerobic stability and nutritional value of silage. Expected results include a reduction in forage losses at harvest and an increase in the chances of successful ensiling, even in adverse weather conditions.

This method could improve the ability of dairy cows to utilize nutrients, preserve the true protein content of forages and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from dairy farms. By increasing the amount of high-quality forage per unit area, farmland efficiency will be optimized.

Scaling up this technique could offer significant economic benefits for dairy farmers by improving cow performance and farm profitability. This project, currently in the proof-of-concept phase, will be validated on a larger scale in subsequent projects for practical application on farms.

Main achievements

• Formation de trois étudiants à la maîtrise et de cinq stagiaires de premier cycle
• Présentation des résultats au Forum Techno et à l’assemblée annuelle de Novalait
• Présentation de conférences ou d’affiches lors de congrès nationaux et internationaux
• Rédaction d’articles scientifiques
• Publication d’articles de vulgarisation