Breaking the feed barrier using maize silage

Abstract

This paper reviews the key factors that have led to the widespread adoption of maize silage in North Island and Canterbury dairying systems and explores current maize silage feeding strategies. Maize silage has proven to be a cost effective supplementary feed that allows farmers to achieve higher MS/ha production. The worldwide significance of maize ensures a large plant breeding and research input that has resulted in significant ongoing genetic gains. Current maize feeding systems are based around systems quantified and described by research at Waimate West Demonstration Farm. A number of new technologies using maize silage are being investigated. These centre on manipulating the feed value of the silage through both plant breeding mechanisms and harvest-management strategies. Keywords: maize silage, supplementary feed