How to preserve crimping ? - one of the most important sources of energy for cows

1. Romania, with a tradition in the cultivation of corn

Our country is known as one with tradition in terms of corn culture. Even in a dry year, as it was last year, Romania managed to rank first in EU in terms of cultivated area (2.639 million ha) and second place, in terms of production (10.15 million tons), as shown by data from Eurostat.

For this year, the first estimates from the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry show that corn production will be around 13.7 million tons, which is 3.55 million tons higher than in 2020.

2. Wet or dry corn?

Corn is the main ingredient in animal feed, especially cattle and pigs (about 80% of the mixture). This is because 1 kg of corn grains is equivalent to 1.17-1.30 nutritional units and contains 70-80 g of digestible protein.

Using wet grains has many more advantages compared to using dry grains. First of all, they have a much higher energy value and nutritional value. Furthermore, studies have shown that the level of energy digestibility of wet corn is 4-8% higher than that of dry corn.
This fact leads to a significant increase of the animal’s weight, reduce time till slaughter and to a higher carcass weight.

3. Why store crimping in silobag?

It is important for the farmer to pay special attention to both the corn harvesting technology (which is done a few weeks earlier than traditionally and at a higher humidity, which can exceed 30%), the crushing/crimping process, the machines used, as well as the storage method.

The silobag has proven to be one of the most effective methods of preserving crimping. It is easy to access by the farmer, cheap, safe (no risk of contamination inside the bag). The feed storage period can reach up to 2 years, so the cows will have food for a long time.

By storing crimping in silobag, farmers reduce a large part of their costs, such as personnel, transport, drying or electricity bills.

The chart conclusions:
– 8,435 euros/year were saved on the expenses, for 100 tons of grain, stored in silobags
– 10,265 euros/year for 200 tons
– 31,100 euros/year for 1,000 tons

“Even though 2020 was a dry year, farmers stored more than 5,000 tons of crimping nationwide, more than half of which are Grain Bags customers. There have been situations where they have not been able to harvest enough corn to feed the animals for a longer period, opting instead to buy from other farmers and then store in silobags. For this year, we estimate an approximately 30% increase in the crimping quantities stored in silobags because we have the perspective of a better agricultural year and because already a lot of farmers believe in the efficiency of this storage system”, explained Narcis Ranghiuc, of Grain Bags general manager.

4. What animal breeders say after storing crimping in silobags

Eliminates losses, drying costs, preserves the crimping qualities inside the silobag, high degree of digestibility – these are just some of the aspects that have convinced the breeders, that the silobag system is ideal for storing corn paste.

5. Farmers also buy silobags in association

“We started using the silobag two years ago, especially for storing corn paste. We had five farmers who joined and who also provide services to other colleagues within the cooperative. We have not stored corn silage yet, but there are farmers that will start from this year. I can tell you that everyone who uses this system for corn paste, is extremely satisfied, both as a preservation method and in terms of costs. There are still colleagues that want to start using silobag system and we are thinking of buying more silobags through the cooperative because we operate in association.

Silobag system is an efficient method, an alternative to farmers that don’t have the infrastructure to store certain types of feed. If you take into consideration the losses you eliminate, that you don’t have problems with mold, that you no longer have drying costs, the silobag is not an expensive storage alternative” – Ioan Oprița, Someș Ariesș Cooperative general manager.

6. The silobag – plan-B when you have a lot of feed to store

“The silobag is our back-up solution because we have quite a large herd of 2,000 cows, we make somewhere between 10,000-15,000 tons of silage each year. We have some self-propelled forage machines that we use and we put the silobags on concrete, like that we have a very easy loading process.” – Lucian Chelariu, Panifcom head of farm.

7. "99% digestion percentage with crimping in the cows' feed"

“The silobag system helped me a lot in the dairy cow feeding process. With its help, I managed to store crushed corn or crimping, which is one of the most complex products, having the highest degree of assimilation. When you put crimping in the cows’ feed, you are sure that the digestion percentage is 99% and there are no more losses.
I placed these giant bags on a bed of sand and gravel. That way, I can download them easily, even when it’s raining. We even carried out the storage for longer periods of time, like a year or even two years with good results” – Alexandru Baciu, Transliberta administrator and LAPAR vice president.