My name is Saksonova Lubov Vasilivena, I am the Chief Animal Technologist at Niva PLC. In 2019 we have started using a new cover called Silostop SupaCova Net.
This is a completely new technology for us, in previous years we estimated losing about 10% of the top layers. Whereas this year, when we opened a pile there was practically no waste at all, thanks to using Silostop Orange and the Net. The top layer has a wonderful and nice smell. Usually when we open up the pile, it's common to throw away the top layer. Here we didn’t throw away anything. We covered about 60,000 tonnes into this pile last year and also a lucerne pile next to it.
Last year we used conventional film at the bottom and a conventional white/black without any net and secured with tyres. Of course we tried to make good silage, but we only had about 29l of milk per cow. Now we have easily 31l instead per cow. We’ve been feeding this silage since October.
Regarding concentration, this year we have very starchy silage of good quality with good dry matter. Our animal nutritionist has said that if we didn’t have such good silage, I would have had to use more nutritional additives. We’ve definitely reduced expenses on these additional nutritional additives that we would have had to buy elsewhere.
For the lucerne pile, this is the very first one we have covered with Silostop Orange. This is the first cut, our biggest cut. We haven’t found any spoilage at all, not at the top, not at the sides, nor at the bottom. Sometimes, when the pile is almost gone, people say ‘that’s it’, where as here we use everything. Can you see the corner of this silage? It’s actually very moist, still green and not spoilt at all and it has a very distinctive Lucerne smell. And that is the side at the bottom!
Thanks to Silostop Orange, SupaCova Net and the gravel bags not even a single bird has managed to make a hole. We are very grateful and happy with this system.
