all over Iowa | Generally, inoculant will reduce the shrink by 5%, plus inoculant will increase the digestibility since the feed doesn't heat as much (high heat will make some of the nutrients indigestible) so digestible dry matter gain can be as much as 10%. Since he's retired from OSU and works for Pioneer now, I'd say that's what he would recommend. I personally like Chr. Hansen NS-5 (Chr. Hansen makes Pioneer's inoculant for them, but NS-5 costs about half as much). Dr. Galen Erickson from U of Neb. mentioned that they have measured 10-15% loss from silage in bunkers with a bunker cover - Dr. Keith Bolson from KSU has reported similar numbers. Properly made and packed piles will have about the same amount of shrink, but take twice as much space as a bunker. In my experience blue tubes will vary all over the board; old ones with bad bags will waste a bunch - newly rebuilt ones with airtight seams and good bags will have very little shrink. |