They say it’s a small world. Well with advances in technology, particularly that relating to communication and travel, it’s only getting smaller. Today, it’s never been easier for the world’s farmers to share ideas, expertise and farming practices. So what lessons can we learn from our international counterparts when it comes to making good quality, nutritious silage?

To find out, we catch up with bpi.agri – the leading manufacturer of Visqueen Poliwrap balewrap and Visqueen clamp sheets which this year celebrates its 25th anniversary.

A global expert

During its 25 years, bpi.agri has learnt a great deal about international silage making techniques. As one of the world’s leading manufacturers in its field, it supplies products used everywhere from the UK and Scandinavia to the US and Australia. It also works closely with international agricultural consultants such as Dr. Dave Davies – an expert in silage/rumen nutrition from specialist consultancy, Silage Solutions Ltd.

“Whilst there are many differences most particularly climatic factors between UK farms and other farms around the globe” explains Dave, “there are also a great number of similarities. Many approaches used oversees could be used either wholesale or with adaption to improve best practice in the Britain. This applies to many farming practices, not least silage making and feeding.”

The East European example

Dave points to the Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Hungary to illustrate his claims. Since the demise of the former Soviet Union, these countries have been quick to embrace state-of-the-art technology to improve agricultural efficiency.

This is particularly true when it comes to silage production. The milk production systems in these former Eastern Bloc nations rely heavily on cows housed all year round. As such, good silage production is paramount and even the average farm’s clamp management - especially in the Czech Republic – can rival the best in the UK.

“One approach that has become standard practice throughout these countries and that could be adopted just as beneficially by farmers in the UK” says Dave “is the use of a thinner clamp sheet on silage clamps to reduce the ingress of oxygen.”

“These thinner sheets, such as bpi.agri’s Visqueen Clingseal, are designed for use underneath a conventional, high quality silage sheet such as Visqueen Agri-S. Being thinner and subsequently more flexible these sheets cling more closely to the contours of the clamp’s surface and tuck in more at the sides. The net result is a closer fitting air barrier with fewer air pockets that can lead to aerobic spoilage. This has the advantage of reducing mouldy silage at the top and shoulder of the clamp because there is less oxygen available to feed mould growth.”

Top spoilage is also a major problem on UK farms and maybe the techniques employed by our East European cousins could present the ideal solution. Perhaps the only reason why they aren’t already fully employed in Great Britain comes down to the fact that we don’t feel the need - at least not yet - to give silage the same attention to detail as they do in Eastern Europe.

Whilst their herds are housed all year round, ours enjoy the luxury of being able to consume grazed grass for around six months of year. Arguably though, if we’re going to invest the time, effort and energy required to make silage for the other six months, it makes sense to do everything we can to get the most out of it and to ensure our endeavours aren’t unnecessarily wasted.

The Scandinavian school of thought

The evolution from bagged to film wrapped baled silage was first instigated in the UK by Lloyd Forster, a forward thinking farmer in the North East. However just because Britain pioneered silage bale wrapping doesn’t mean we’ve been wholly responsible for perfecting it.

“Many farmers making baled silage in the UK will accept the loss of some of it from mould growth as inevitable” says Dave. “But not so in Scandinavia and especially in Sweden.

“The standard approach to making baled silage in these countries entails using 8 layers of balewrapping film. This practice is partially due to the hard work and effort of the recently retired Per Lingval. Per conducted many trials to show the benefits of using this many layers of wrap and further ensured his positive findings were broadcast far and wide to the farmers of Sweden.

“The use of additional layers of film has been shown again and again to significantly reduce silage losses due to mould growth. However in the UK, using 4 layers of wrap remains the standard. This is despite the very good work of Raymond Jones and Rhun Fychan at IBERS in Aberystwyth, Wales showing the significant benefits to using 6 layers of wrap compared to 4 in reducing mouldiness of silage and their best efforts in telling UK farmers of their findings.”

Arguably, the Scandinavians are more fastidious about their silage production because their silage is more important. The region’s climate means they are faced with a short growing season to make their silage and then a long winter over which to feed it.

In the UK, we may enjoy a longer growing season, but we can still learn from the lessons of our Scandinavian counterparts. Using more layers of film means less mould and again represents an easy way for us to maximise our silage making efforts.

As demonstrated by the Danes

“Another example of a silage making technique used overseas which could be advantageous to UK farmers can be found in Denmark” continues Dave.

“In this country, farmers are using high dry matter baled lucerne silage at an inclusion level of approximately 1 kilogram per head per day to provide fibre and help maintain rumen health. They’re finding it an effective alternative to straw in total mixed rations for dairy herds.

“Effective fibre is an essential component of all dairy cow diets and failure to provide it results in considerable herd health problems” Dave explains. “However, straw is becoming an increasingly expensive commodity on many dairy farms and so maybe setting aside a few acres to grow and ensile lucerne as big baled silage offers an alternative cost effect approach to straw in the UK.”

Ultimately, it seems there is much we can learn from our overseas counterparts when it comes to producing good quality silage, whether that’s in a clamp or by the bale.

The specific challenges, individual nuances and subsequent solutions developed by farmers across the globe to create ensiled fodder hasn’t just created a world of differences.

With the advent of new technology that makes sharing knowledge and experiences easier, it’s also created a world of new and exciting possibilities.