What feed makes cattle grow fast? A guide to choosing fattening feed
Cattle grow fast when fed silage. The amount of silage used should depend on the cattle's breed, age, purpose and the quality of the silage; apart from high-yielding dairy cows, in general it can be used as the only roughage. The usual feeding amount for dairy cows is 20-30kg, for draft cattle 10-15kg, and for breeding bulls and beef cattle 5-12kg. The method for fermenting silage is introduced below.
1. Raw material preparation
Generally the raw material is cut into small pieces of 2-3 cm, to make it easier to tread firm, press tight and expel air when filling the silo, and at the same time to favor the growth of lactic acid bacteria and speed up the silage process.
2. Adjusting the moisture content
First adjust the moisture of the material to 60-70% and set it aside. How to judge whether the moisture is suitable: grab a handful of the material; if water is seen but does not drip, and it breaks apart when dropped on the ground, it is just right.
3. Additives
Adding urea at 0.2% to the fermentation material can noticeably increase the protein content of the silage, and adding salt at 0.1% can raise the activity of the bacterial strains and improve the flavor of the feed.
4. Fermentation agent
For 5 tonnes of silage material, use 1 kg of Rujin bacteria fermentation agent. Dilute the Rujin bacteria silage agent tenfold with wheat bran, then begin filling the silo, treading as you fill, and sprinkling the fermentation bacterial agent while loading the raw material.
5. Covering with grass and sealing with soil
The filling amount needs to be 30 cm higher than the edge, to prevent the silage from sinking. Surround it with wooden boards and so on, and after it has sunk for 2-3 days remove the boards, cover with a layer of green grass cut short to 5-10 cm and about 20 cm thick, then cover with soil and tread it firm; the thickness of the covering soil is 60 cm, pile it into a steamed bun shape, pat the surface flat, and dig drainage ditches around the silo.