Making silage to help fill feed gaps
Learning the practice of making silage was helpful for Pak Sunarto in Cisarua, Bogor, to cope with the difficulties in collecting forage.
The topic on silage making attracted much attention for farmers in Cisarua because farmers face a shortage of forage during the dry season.
Cisarua is a popular tourism destination for families in Jakarta and Bogor as the Taman Safari is located there. Due to the expansion of hotels over the years, land available for growing forages around Cisarua is becoming limited and therefore, feed shortages are becoming more common. To help overcome this challenge, silage can be made to help manage feed gaps over the dry season and can be stored on farm.
Pak Sunarto made silage from maize stover and elephant grass collected from his land. As the silage was more palatable, he observed there was no residual feed left in the feed trough, reducing wastage and increasing feed intake. Making silage enabled him to have sufficient forage available, even in the dry season. In addition, he also found that milk production increased by around 1-2 litres/cow/day by including good quality silage in the diet.