Wholecrop may prove a good forage option this year where grass or maize crops fall short in yield or quality. But its value will depend on getting harvest timing and clamp management right.

Particularly useful in a difficult season, wholecrop cereals can help bolster silage stocks and spread risk against unpredictable markets and feed costs, says Lientjie Colahan, forage technical support at Lallemand Animal Nutrition.

“It has been a fairly successful growing season for cereal crops so far, but maize crop performance could be in question for some this year,” she continues.

“If this is the case, wholecrop cereals can provide additional feed value and give farmers a flexible forage option to help build greater resilience into forage plans.”

If cereals are not needed as wholecrop silage, they can be crimped or harvested for grain.

“It means that harvest decisions can be made as the season unfolds, depending on the weather, market conditions and farm requirements, which vary across different regions and farms,” says Mrs Colahan.

To achieve the optimum harvest time for wholecrop, the best indicator is grain maturity.

“Check how milky the grains are,” Mrs Colahan advises. “If the texture is still like ‘cottage cheese’, it’s too early. When you roll it in your hand, it should be at ‘soft cheddar’ stage, so it makes a paste.

“This is when the maximum amount of starch deposition has occurred without the grain becoming too hard and plant too mature to be ensiled effectively.”

She warns that the crop can go over quite quickly – within the space of a week – and, if it reaches the stage when the grain is hard, but a thumbnail leaves a dent in the grain, farmers should consider crimping it.

“If you can’t dent it without splitting, then it’s best harvested for grain,” she says.

When utilising the crop as a silage, wholecrop can be tricky to consolidate Mrs Colahan cautions.

“This is partly because it needs to be relatively dry, at over 35% dry matter, to be mature enough to achieve the maximum starch content.

“Also, its hollow, waxy, lignified stems mean it can move around a lot in the clamp.

“Therefore, the chop length needs to be short, at 1cm to 1.5cm, and the clamp should be filled in thin layers to maximise the force during consolidation.”

Mrs Colahan explains that because the crop is tricky to ensile, using a crop-specific inoculant is important.

Magniva Platinum Wholecrop is designed for high-dry matter crops to support fermentation, helping to bring down pH to create the anaerobic conditions to convert it from fresh forage to silage.

“A crop-specific inoculant with the right mix of bacteria and enzymes will help the wholecrop stay cooler for longer, reducing risk of mould development and helping maintain greater stability at feed out,” says Mrs Colahan.

“The particular enzymes in Magniva Platinum Wholecrop also help to break down the fibrous fractions in the stems to make them more digestible for the animal when doing this they release sugars which drive the fermentation.”

For more information, please visit www.lallemandanimalnutrition.com