Dictionary Definition
ensilage n : fodder harvested while green and
kept succulent by partial fermentation as in a silo [syn: silage]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Noun
- The process of producing silage by the fermentation of green fodder
Extensive Definition
Ensilage is the process of preserving green food
for cattle in an undried
condition in a storage
silo, a pit for holding grain from which air has been, as far
as possible, excluded. The fodder which is the result of the
process is called silage.
In various parts of Germany a method of
preserving green fodder precisely similar to that used in the case
of Sauerkraut has
prevailed for upwards of a century. Special attention was first
directed to the practice of ensilage by a French
agriculturist, Auguste Goffart of the district of Sologne, near
Orleans,
who in 1877
published a book detailing
the experiences of many years in preserving green crops in silos.
Goffart's experience attracted considerable attention. The
conditions of dairy farming
in the United
States proved eminently suitable for the ensiling of green
maize fodder; and the
success of the method was soon indisputably demonstrated among the
New
England farmers. The favorable results obtained in America led
to much discussion and to the introduction of the system in the
United
Kingdom, where, with different conditions, success has been
more qualified.
It has been abundantly proved that ensilage forms
a wholesome and nutritious food for cattle. It can be substituted
for root
crops with advantage, because it is succulent and digestible;
milk resulting from it is
good in quality and taste; it can be secured largely irrespective
of weather; it carries
over grass from the period
of great abundance and waste to times when none would otherwise be
available; and a larger number of cattle can be supported on a
given area by the use of ensilage than is possible by the use of
green crops.
Early silos were made of stone or concrete either above or below
ground, but it is recognized that air may be sufficiently excluded
in a tightly pressed stack, though in this case a few inches of the
fodder round the sides is generally useless owing to mildew. In America round
structures made of wood and
35 or 40 ft. in depth are most commonly used. The crops suitable
for ensilage are the ordinary grasses, clovers, alfalfa, vetches, oats, rye and maize, the latter being the most
important silage crop in America; various weeds may also be stored in silos
with good results, notably spurrey, Spergula arvensis, a most
troublesome plant in poor light soils. As a rule the crop should be
mown when in full flower,
and deposited in the silo on the day of its cutting. Maize is cut a
few days before it is ripe and is shredded before being elevated
into the silo. Fair, dry weather is not essential; but it is found
that when moisture, natural and extraneous, exceeds 75% of the
whole, good results are not obtained. The material is spread in
uniform layers over the floor of the silo, and closely packed and
trodden down. If possible, not more than a foot or two should be,
added daily, so as to allow the mass to settle down closely, and to
heat uniformly throughout. When the silo is filled or the stack
built, a layer of straw or
some other dry porous substance may be spread over the surface. In
the silo the pressure of the material, when chaffed, excludes air from all but
the top layer; in the case of the stack extra pressure is applied by means of
planks or other weighty objects in order to prevent excessive
heating.
The closeness with which the fodder is packed
determines the nature of the resulting silage by regulating the
chemical
reactions that occur in the stack. When closely packed, the
supply of oxygen is
limited; and the attendant acid fermentation
brings about the decomposition of the carbohydrates present into
acetic,
butyric and
lactic
acids. This product is named sour silage. If, on the other
hand, the fodder be unchaffed and loosely packed, or the silo is
built gradually, oxidation proceeds more
rapidly and the temperature rises; if the
mass is compressed when the temperature is 140 to 160 Fahrenheit, the
action ceases and sweet silage results. The nitrogenous ingredients of the
fodder also suffer change: in making sour silage as much as
one-third of the albuminoids may be converted
into amino and ammonium compounds; while in
making sweet silage a less proportion is changed, but they become
less digestible. In
extreme cases, sour silage acquires a most disagreeable odor. On the other hand it keeps
better than sweet silage when removed from the silo.