Home Grown Forages and Silage Additives, and Silage Covers

SPECIALIST GRAZE HVS has selected the best-in-class grass mixtures proven to help achieve your production goals, whether producing the highest quality milk, beef or lamb from your herds. A highly versatile mixture with an excellent combination of high yields, quality and persistence.

SPECIALIST CUT AND GRAZE is a dual-purpose mixture designed for both grazing and silage making. A highly versatile mixture with an excellent combination
of high yields, quality and persistence

Maize is a high energy, high dry matter home-grown feed.

When included in diets will increase intakes and have a positive effect on overall yields and milk solids in the dairy herd but equally increased intakes improve daily live weight gain, kill out percentage and fat score in a beef production system.

Maize can be used in spring post-calving where cows have a high demand for energy, but equally as a buffer feed where there is a feed deficit situation (drought etc.)

A more consistent, cost-effective solution to a 2 or 3 cut grass silage system.

Sowing maize under cover with plastic generally costs 200€ an acre more to grow. Although it is essential in certain parts of the country, it is worth considering sowing without plastic.

Open Sow varieties are:

1. Cheaper to grow
2. New varieties are less risky to grow without plastic
3. Weed control is easier
4. More targeted use of fertiliser

So, if you have a good site and you are sowing in time, sow without plastic. Our team are available to talk you through your options

Fodder Beet can produce substantial yields of high-quality fodder and is an excellent supplement to grass silage.

Fodder beet is grown as a main root crop, which requires similar husbandry to sugar beet. The roots are very palatable to stock and have superb feed quality.

It is grown as a main root crop, which requires similar husbandry to sugar beet. Specialist harvesting equipment is required to lift the roots and storage is required unless they are strip grazed in situ.

Medium dry matter varieties tend to have a higher percentage of root above ground and can be lifted with a top lifter and therefore have a relatively low dirt tare. These highly palatable roots can be fed whole to stock.

Why Grow Fodder Beet?

• Huge yields

• Improved milk yields

• Ideal break crop for cereals

• Palatable and nutritious

• High energy feed

• Can be grazed in situ for outwintering systems

• Clamp and store over winter

Gahan Sugar Beet is a high dry matter sugar beet, suitable for lift and pit.

This is a next-generation sugar beet with high dry matter content and very high yields. This clean beet has proven very popular countrywide with both contractors & farmers, and it has also proven its ability to drive improvements in animal performance.

Gahan has very large tops, potentially protecting the crown when harvesting late.

Bolting resistance is excellent.

Mildew and rust resistance is also very good.

Gahan is also Rhizomania tolerant.

Wholecrop cereals are a versatile addition to beef or dairy diets. Cereals can produce a starch-rich forage crop that is also a good source of effective fibre, essential for good rumen function. Care must be taken to harvest at the optimum time for best results; however, the wide harvest window across the crops means this can be easily managed.

Why Grow Wholecrop?
• Flexible crop to grow and wholecrop can be produced from spring or winter crops
• Ideal year-round feed
• Low protein content means wholecrop cereal grains are an excellent and very palatable complementary feed with either grass or good quality grass silage
• Cost effective to produce
• Can be under-sown with grass seed as part of a reseeding plan
• Wholecrop cereals must be treated with a crop specific additive - Magniva Platinum Wholecrop

Multi-species swards are a sustainable source of high-quality forage.

Multi-species swards produce large quantities of highly digestible forage rich in minerals and high in protein for grazing livestock. Apart from a couple of small fertiliser applications in spring, multi-species swards are almost totally N self-sufficient.

Having a mixture of grass and multi species swards on the grazing platform will ensure a steady supply of the highest quality forage through spring, summer, and autumn, buffering against drought and reducing the cost of forage production.

MAGNIVA CLASSIC is recommended for grass silage

Containing a combination of homofermentative bacteria helps ensure a rapid fermentation to maximise nutrient retention.

Formulated specially for the challenges of grass harvested at low dry matters, typically below 26% DM, MAGNIVA Classic contains a unique combination of proven bacteria which combined with enzymes will ensure:

• The rapid pH drop required for a quality fermentation
• Excellent nutrient preservation for a high quality feed
• Increased fibre digestibility

MAGNIVA PLATINUM GRASS WET is recommended For Grass, Clover or Lucerne

Containing both homofermentative and heterofermentative bacteria helps ensure faster preservation when clamped while helping prevent heating and spoilage when the clamp is opened.

Formulated specifically for the challenge of wetter grass silage and difficult to ensile crops such as clover, lucerne and other legumes, MAGNIVA PLATINUM GRASS WET contains a unique combination of proven bacteria which combined with enzymes will ensure:

• A faster and efficient initial fermentation
• A stable clamp which can be opened earlier
• Increased aerobic stability after opening
• More silage to feed due to lower dry matter losses
• Less heating so increased feed value
• Higher true protein retention
• Improved fibre digestion

MAGNIVA PLATINUM GRASS DRY is recommended For Grass, Clover or Lucerne

Containing both homofermentative and heterofermentative bacteria helps ensure faster preservation when clamped while helping prevent heating and spoilage when the clamp is opened.

Formulated specifically for the challenge of high dry matter grass silage, MAGNIVA PLATINUM GRASS DRY contains a unique combination of proven bacteria which combined with enzymes will ensure:

• A stable clamp which can be opened earlier
• Increased aerobic stability after opening
• More silage to feed due to lower dry matter losses
• Less heating so increased feed value
• Reduced contamination with yeast and moulds
• Improved fibre digestion

MAGNIVA PLATINUM MAIZE ELITE is recommended for maize ensiled under more challenging conditions

Containing both homofermentative and heterofermentative bacteria helps ensure faster preservation when clamped while helping prevent heating and spoilage when the clamp is opened.

MAGNIVA PLATINUM MAIZE is recommended for maize with higher dry matter.

Containing heterofermentative bacteria helps prevent heating and spoilage when the clamp is opened.

MAGNIVA PLATUNUM WHOILECROP is recommended For Wheat, Barley, Triticale, Oats

Containing both homofermentative and heterofermentative bacteria helps ensure faster preservation when clamped while helping prevent heating and spoilage when the clamp is opened.

MAGNIVA PLATINUM CRIMP is recommended For crimped Wheat, Barley, Triticale or Oats

Containing both homofermentative and heterofermentative bacteria helps ensure faster preservation when
clamped, while helping prevent heating and spoilage when the clamp is opened.

SlurriN PRO is an enzyme and bacterial complex for slurry treatment.

SlurriN PRO is a biological treatment containing a specific blend of enzymes and bacteria which work to:

• Improve slurry quality
• Improve the animal housing environment
• Improve slurry management by making it easier to handle

Treating slurry stored in slatted tanks with SlurriN PRO creates positive fermentation and fibre breakdown which has a direct impact on improving the environment for the animals housed in those sheds.

Orange is the original High Oxygen Barrier silage film. A lightweight, flexible and tough, single layer, 45 micron High Oxygen Barrier (HOB) film with an industry leading Oxygen Transmission rate (OTR) of below 1cm3/m2/24h.

Orange clings to the silage surface eliminating air pockets and reduces surface spoilage by restricting oxygen permeation, reducing the development of moulds and undesirable bacteria, including butyric acid bacterial spores in the peripheral areas of the clamp or bunker during the storage period. Trials have shown that High Oxygen Barrier (HOB) films reduce dry matter (DM) losses in the top layer of the clamp by 41% and reduce inedible DM by 73% compared to non oxygen barrier films.

Silostop Orange when combined with the Secure Covers Anti-UV netting generates 60% less plastic waste than conventional covering systems.
Orange is a single layer film that should be unrolled onto the silage surface as soon as the clamp or bunker is full. Where two separate films are joined there should be a 1.5m overlap. Orange should then be covered with the Secure Cover Anti-UV and gravel bags. The Anti UV net protects the Orange from UV light and bird and wildlife damage while holding it in place against the silage surface. Orange is available in a wide range of sizes and is fully recyclable.

The Silostop Anti-UV brings both UV stability and excellent physical protection into one product. A 210 gsm twill weave polypropylene cover that is used to protect the Silostop Orange silage film from degrading sunlight and environmental damage. Anti-UV cover are reusable with a 2000 Kly UV stability ensuring a long lifespan in all environments.

Anti-UV creates a UV barrier providing 100% shading for non UV stable silage films whilst also protecting films from bird and wildlife damage and holding them in place against the silage surface. When combined with Silostop Orange the complete system generates up to 60% less plastic waste than conventional covering systems.

Anti-UV is applied on top of Silostop Orange and weighted down with gravel bags around the perimeter and left to right across the clamp or bunker. Where two separate Covers join there should be a 1.5m overlap which should match the overlap of the Silostop Orange sheets below. This join should then be secured with a line of gravel bags. When removed Anti- UV Covers should be rolled and stored undercover away from direct sunlight.