Forage & Silage News

With profitable break crops in short supply and rotations under pressure, maize for anaerobic digestion (AD) is offering arable farmers something increasingly rare: long-term contracts, competitive margins, and digestate return. 

After an atrocious year for making forage, with drought causing a lack of available grazing as well as poorer quality and quantity of silage, experts came together at the recent Forage Forum to offer advice on maximising your available forage.

Mixed farmer and contractor John Hepburn began baling with net replacement film, rather than traditional net wrap, to create a more compact bale and reduce silage loss from mould.

Arcusin UK Ltd offers two bale chaser models that can speed up your collection of large square bales at harvest time. Both machines will collect and stack all the dimensional bale sizes of large square bales to clear your fields quickly after baling.

Rumenco has launched the NovaSile Cool and Stable (NovaSile CS), a new silage additive designed to work across all silage types, including grass, maize, wholecrop and legumes.  

The feed industry has urged livestock producers to carefully consider their feed requirements through to late spring 2026 and to discuss these with their feed suppliers at the earliest opportunity.

Farmers across England and Wales face a difficult late grazing season, with drought effects still evident. Conditions vary by region, leaving many producers making tough decisions on fodder supplies and livestock management, said Philip Cosgrave, Yara’s grassland specialist.

The very dry, warm spring has raised red flags over cobalt and selenium levels, prompting concerns over lamb health.

As farmers face increasing pressure to improve sustainability and operational efficiency, many are turning to net replacement film (NRF) as a smarter alternative to traditional silage wrapping methods.

The crop is a valuable feed and ideal break crop for winter and spring cereals.

As 2024 comes to an end we take a look at the key animal health challenges from the year. Sarah Kidby reports.

Now is the time to take stock of the amount of silage required on farms for the winter period, Welsh government experts advise.